Afghanistan's imports in1986). 2.Transport-relate4 tradeproblwms 36.Thelackofsovereign accelrtotheleaan~itsimplic~tions, exacerbated by theveryremoteness fromoverseas mark~ts andbygenerally poortransitfacilities, ~~verisetoadditional freight costs,additional transport timesandadditional transport risks. Thesefactors createanenvironment inwhichtheexporttradeof land-locked developing countries isseentobefundamentally unpredictable. Since, inmostcases,transit countries andtheirland-locked neighbours havethesame markettargets fortheirproducts, asuddensharp declin~ ~nthedemandfortheir exports could,withthereduced competitive ability, seriously threaten the survival ofthelend-locked countries. Furthermore, if~xporters inland-locked countries failtodeliver theirgoodsontime,theirnegotiated contract ilbroken, andthebuyercanrefusetoaccepttheconli9~m.nt. In1986,Burundi wasunableto takeadvantage ofhighcoffeepricesbecau.e ofinflexibility an~delaylinthe transit system. Suqarexporters inSwa.ila~~ limilarly f~ceasituation inwhich insurance companies aremoreandmorereluctant toinsuresugartransport onthe Ihortftlt andcheapest r~utesthrough Mozambique, following persistent derailments andpilferage. InChad,theeX.Q!nnery costofcottoniloneoftheloweltin /...A/44/588 English Page18 WestAfrica andChadian cottonisgoodquality ~ndfetches aslightly higherprice thantheworld pric~toracomparable stapleJength, butthecentr~ofthecotton p~oducing regionissituated 1,350kilometres fromDouala, thema10rportusedfor cottonexports. Theresulting highcostoftransportation affects boththef.o.b. exportcostsofcotton andthecostofimported inputsforcottonproduction to suchanextentthat,despite thelowproduction costsandhighqualitl, theissue oftheviability ofcottonproduction inCha~hasbeenraised. Attempts todevelop newexport commOdities canalsobeeasilyfrustrated. NewcustomerA intheFederal Republic ofGermany, ItalyandFranceforMalawi's smalltextlle iaduetry became disillusioned intheearly1980swheninefficiencies inthetransit transport systemdelayed aconsignment andthesevital ma~kets werelost. 37.Transport-related tradeproblems havep&rticularly adversv conser,uences when theyaffectstrategic imports. InMalawiintheearly1980&,itwasestimated that transport-related delays iklthearrival offertilizers atthebeg~nning ofthe agricultural seasonwouldresultinthegrosedomestic produ~t being7percent lowerthanitwouldhavebeenifthefertilizcl's weretoarrive ontime.InChad, in1986,thec.i.f.costofpetroleum products was$600pertoninNdjamena while thesameproducts' c.i.f.costontheWestAfrican coastwas$150perton.Such highcostsradiate t~.rough theeconomy. Mor~over, because ofthehighCO.,tof transport, evenasignificant reduction inthointernational priceofoilhasa relatively smalleffect onthedelivered pric~. Whiletheaveragee.i,f.priceof petroleum products ontheWestAfrican coastdr.opped by40percentbetween 1985 and1986,thelandedcost i~Chaddecreased byonly15percent. 38.Another important consideration with r~6pact toimports isthatthehigher importpricesassociated withthecostsandr.isksoftransit-transport provide some opportunities forlocalimport substituti~n inland-locked countries. Such opportunities cannot, however, befullyexploited ingeneral, notonlybecause the domestic marketissmall,butalsobecause capital investment costsareinflated by thecostsoftrans-shipping heavyequipment andtherequired intermediate inputs. Theaeareafewexamples ofthetransport·~el~ted tradeproblems facedbyexporters andimporters inland-locked developing countries. Inshort,theyactasa deterrent toinvestment a~dgrowth. Land-locked countries maytrytoadjusttothe special constraints onaccesstooverseas markets andoverseas supplysources, but theseeconomic adjustments cannotwhollyoffsetthenegative impactofthese constraints ontheoverall economic performance. B.Tranait-transport constraints andthe balan~e:~ayments-tmplicationl 39.Thegeographical situation oftheland-locked developing countries reduces the volumeoftheirexporttrade. Exporttradevolumeispartlyreduced because resources thatcouldprofitably betransformed intoexport commodities ar8left unutilized asaresultoftransport disadvantages. Thetermsoftradeareworsened directly because borderpricesofexports aredepressed bythecostsandrisksof transit-transport whiletheborderpricesofimports aresimultaneously inflated. Thisconstellation offactors iscompounded uythefactthatcommodity buyersin