Committee for Development Policy (CDP)

Angola Equator

The United Nations Committee for Development Policy (CDP) comprises 24 independent specialists from a variety of disciplines. It advises the UN Economic and Social Council on emerging economic, social and environmental issues relevant to sustainable development and international co-operation. The paper argues that since its launch in 1965 the CDP has at times struggled to make an impact, but that it has been most effective when it has been at its most creative and when it has broken with convention. The CDP helped put into practice the target that developed countries should devote 0.7% of their gross national income to official development assistance. The Committee created the least developed countries category and continues to monitor and update membership of the group. Its members were prominent in the genesis of the human development approach and continue to conduct new work in the areas of governance, productive capacity and sustainable development.

This paper analyzes opportunities for growth in Nepal by applying the policy tool of New Structural Economics ? Growth Identification and Facilitation Framework (GIFF). Drawing on firm level surveys, stakeholder interviews, and existing datasets it aims to contribute to policy discussions in Nepal and to demonstrate the use of the GIFF for other least developed countries. The report argues that Nepal should seek to capture industrial transfer from China to establish a foothold in global value chains, create employment and catalyze structural transformation. The report identifies product-level advantages arising from preferential market access and sector-specific binding constraints, and proposes how to use Special Economic Zones to mitigate identified constraints to set Nepal on a path of structural transformation.

Report of the Committee for Development Policy (E/2017/33, Supplement No. 13)

This paper examines the process of building productive capacity in Ethiopia over the past two decades and the roles played by the state, government, the private sector, foreign firms and development partners. Productive capacity is defined broadly as the natural resource potential, accumulation of human capital and the institutions that facilitate inclusive and sustainable economic growth. This process also encompasses the nurturing modern entrepreneurial skills in the private sector and fostering innovation. The paper starts with an overview of Ethiopia's economic growth and the change in the domestic economic structure. The manufacturing sector is seen as the success of Ethiopia's Growth, and its development to a large extent the product of an activist developmental state. The paper then examines growth and diversification of exports and the country's recent efforts to effectively exploit its natural resources. An analysis of public and private investment and the underlying allocation of financial resources finds that a recent upturn in domestic investment has been financed largely by foreign aid, and that private financing remains too low. Finally, the paper addresses educational attainment, arguing that Ethiopia has some distance to go in its attempts to close the large human capital gap relative to other low-income countries.

The 19th Session of the CDP Plenary was held from 20 - 24 March 2017 at UN Headquarters in New York, USA

In a special briefing during the 19th Plenary Session of the CDP members briefed delegates on lessons learned in building productive capacity in least developed countries (LDCs) – those who have graduated and those in the process of graduating

Half a century after its launch the CDP remains at the forefront of international development thinking, providing innovative, timely and practical advice from across the disciplines

Bhutan has graduated from the LDC category by specializing in natural resource-based activities (hydropower generation) and tourism, with some manufacturing