The main driver of export growth during this period was the massive rise in the prices of fuels, minerals and metals, reflecting strong demand in developing countries, particularly China. With the 2005 underlying, growth is more remarkable, by 0.3 percentage points, from 0.5% to 0.8 in 2019 (UNCTAD, 2016). Small developing countries often have the lowest natural resources in the economic market. Free trade agreements ensure that small nations can preserve the economic resources needed to produce consumer goods or services. Another measure theme to consider is the composition of LDCs. It is likely that several LDCs will achieve this status in the coming years. According to UNDESA (2020), Vanuatu is expected to graduate in 2020 and several more will follow after the end of 2020. MacFeely (2020) examined the impact of changes in the group`s composition on assessing progress towards the SDG goal. Are rates of change calculated on the basis of the initial composition of the least developed or developing countries at the initial value (for example. B 2010/2011 or 2015) or the group that will consist in 2020? These choices leave a lot of room for the interpretation of success. Some futures countries have only a marginal contribution to the group`s performance and whether or not they are included will have little impact, while the weight of some other countries, such as Bangladesh (see Map 1), is considerable and will have a considerable impact on the performance of the group as a whole.

The structure of exports by product group has changed significantly in least developed and developing countries over the past decade (see Chart 8). In 2018, manufactured goods accounted for 36% of LDC`s total exports, a significant increase over 2008. However, in 2018, only six LDCs, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Haiti, The Gambia, Nepal and Lesotho, received more than 50% of their industrial exports. Fuels were the second largest group of products in 2018 (27%) and accounted for more than half of exports in 2008. The share of minerals, metals, precious stones and non-monetary gold rose from almost 12% to 20% between 2008 and 2018. The share of food products in exports also increased over the same period, from eight per cent to almost 12 per cent. Integration into the global economy has proven to be an effective way for countries to promote economic growth, development and the fight against poverty. Over the past 20 years, world trade has grown at an average rate of 6% per year, twice as fast as world production. But trade has been a growth engine for much longer. Since 1947, when the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was created, the global trading system has benefited from eight rounds of multilateral trade liberalization and unilateral and regional liberalization.