39. Although the situation varies considerably from country to country, the fornulation of policies for the profibcion of srnall- and rnedium-sized enterprises, as lrell as internatlonal assistance furnished for that purpose, are stitl inadeguate. IndustriaL co-operation agreenents between sone enterprises of leasE developed countries and those of certain donor countries have been concluded. 40. Regional and subregional econonic groupings have taken measures to exploit the opportunities offered by an expanding narket in the reglons concerned.A/ 40 /989 /AdA . L0 Eng li sh Page 17 E. Physical and institutional infraGtructure 4I. Tbe insufflciency, fragilityof lhe physical and instituCionalmajor obstacles to the structuralthe least developed countr ies.and sometimes ineffectlveness and inadequacyinfrastructure continue to be one of thetransfornation and econornic developnent of 42. The precarious situation of the physical infrastructure of lhe leastdeveloped countries is often aggravated by the lnaateguacy of naintenanceservices. 43. rnstitutlonar infrastructures are often insufficientry productive forvarious reasona, nalnl,y the inadequacy of equipment and skirred staff analinsufficient operating budgets, etc. 44- rn the case of land-l.cked least deveroped countries che inadeguacy andthe precarloua situatlon of transport networks in adjoining countri;s, ls wet-las occasional institutional instability in some of those countries, haveformed an obstacle to the transportation of products conlng fron, or lntendedfor, forelgn countr i es. F. Env ironmen t
**Analysis**
The text discusses the challenges faced by the least developed countries in terms of their physical and institutional infrastructure, which hinders their economic development. The text also mentions international cooperation and regional economic groupings, which suggests a focus on economic development and international trade. However, the text does not explicitly mention natural resources, agriculture, forestry, fishing, health, education, employment, humanitarian aid, culture, or science and technology.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade