earnings fromprocessed commodities isvastlylowerthanforotherdeveloping countries (seeappendix table3). 32.Withrespect toexportperformance, available evidence indicates thatthe levelofexports percapitaisingeneral muchlowerforland-locked developing countries thanforotherdeveloping ~ountriDS, thatexports ar~aImallproportion ofgrossdomestic product, andthattheland-locked developing countries' ahareof worldtradehastendedtodecline. In198e,theonlyland-locked developing countries whOlepercapitaexporta excee~ed theaverage ofnon-oil developing countriel -i.e.'135-wereBotlwana, Swaziland andZimbabwe. Foralltheother land-locked developing countries, exceptBolivia andParaguay, exporta percapita werelessthanhalfthataverage. Andforlevencountries, exporta percapitawere les8than$25percapita-Burkina Faso,$101Chad,$171LaoPeople'l Democratic Republic, $81Lelotho, '13,Mali,$231Nepal, $81andRwanda, '19.Inthesame year,exports exceeded 20percentofgrosldomestic product inonlyfour countries, Botswana, Swaziland, ZambiaandZimbabwe (.eeappendix table4).Data for13land-locked developing co~ntries overtheperiod 1970-1984/85 alsoindicate thatthesecountries hadadeclining shareofbothdeveloping-country andworld exports formostoftheirtrading commodities <leeappendix table5).Itisalso noteworthy thatland-locked countries tendtoexperience ahigher-than-average instability ofexportearnings because oftherelatively highdegreeofexport commodity concentration citedabove. 4Q/ 33.Theimportstructure ofland-locked developing countries issimilar tothatof otherdeveloping countries inthatmanufactured good.,machinery andtransport equip.~ent, crudepetrolewn andpetro1ewn products constitute alargeproportion of thetotalimportvalue. (Fortheevolution oftheimportvalue,percapitaimports andproportion ofGDP,seeappendix table6.)Butincontrast tootherdeveloping countries, land-locked countriel procure alignificant proportion oftheirimports fromneighbouring countriel ratherthanfromdi.tant over.eas suppliers. This adaptation inthedirecti.on oftradeofland-locked developing countries enables importers torealize largelavingl ont:anlport COltl. However, itisnotalways tbecal.thatthe••savings arefullyreflected inlowerimportprice., since producers inregional .upp1ying countries areabletoinflatetheir••llinqpriceR tobuyersintheland-locked developing countries. I •••A/44/588 English PaCjJe17 34.Inca.e.of.evereshortages -whichhappen. quiteoften-theimporter. may preferregional suppliers because oftheurgency an~theuncertainties aboutthe delivery timesforgoodstramoverseas eventhoughtheoverseay supplier.' prices maybelower. Buyersinland-locked countries remotefromworldcentre. mayof coursealsonotbefUllyfamiliar withthestructure ofworldmarketprice.for someoftheproducts andthislackofknowledge couldbeexploited totheir disadvantage. 35.Throughout the1970a,anincreasing proportion oftheimports ofland-lo~ked developing countries waspurchased fr~mother ~evelopiu~ ~lountries onthesame continent. By1987,only4outofasampleof15land-locked developing countries obtained lessthan25percentoftheirimports through ~radewiththo.e countrie., Burundi, Central African Republic, Niger an~Cha~(.eeappendix table7).Imports through intra-trade withdeveloping co~ntries onthesame continent exceed 45percentofthetotalimports ofBolivia (52percent),Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malawi (51percent)andNepal(49percent),and exceed 25percentofthetotalimports ofAfghanistan (2~~~.cent),Burkina Faso (3Jpercent),Malawi (43percent),Mali(31per c~nt),Paraguay (35percent), Rwan~a (27percent),Uganda (25percent),Zambia (27percent)andZimbabwe (30percent). Themostimportant regional suppliers ofland-locked developing countries are,Argentina (11percentofBolivia's imp~rts in1y:6,14percentof Paraguay'. in1986),Brazil (39percentofBolivia's imports in1986132percent ofParaguay's in1986),Coted'Ivoire (25percentofBurkino Faso'.imports in 19861 2~percentofMali'sin198619percentof~iger's in1986),Cameroon (12percentofChad'simports in1986)1Nigeria (10per.centofNiger's imports in 1986)1Kenya(24percentofRwanda's imports in198613:percen~ofUganda's in 198613percentofBurundi's in1986)1SouthAfr\ca (40percentofMalawi's imports in1986120percentofZimbabwe's in1986181percentofSwaziland's in 1985)1India(30percentofNepal's i~ports in1986),Thailand (47percentofthe LaoPeople's Democratic Republic's imports in1986)1SovietUnion(39percentof