text: nineland-locked countries amounts to'A6.500,000. Inaddition totheabove bilateral support, the.outh.rn African countri.s willalsob.n.fit und.rthe Special Programme ofAssistance toSouthern AfricafromSA.,000,000 ~llocated to regional programmes, $A2,500,000 allocated tonon-governmental organiaations and SA2,850,000 Itilltobeallocated. Australia alloalsists land-locked countries through contributionl totheUnitedNations systemandothermultilateral bodies. Austria 47.InrecentyearlAustria hasbeentakingapecific actionrelated tothe particular need.andprobl.ms ofanumberofland-locked developing countries. In thilcontext themainrecipientl ofAuatrian aSliltance havebeenAfghaniatan, Bhutan, Burtina Faso,Burundi, Nepal,Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe andUganda. In addition totheirland-lockedneas almoatallofthesecountries belongtothegroup oftheleastdevelop.d. Thiaconforms tooneofthegoalsoftheAustrian development jssistance programme. Furthermore, Austria hasconclUded bilateral general co-operation agreements withtwoland-locked developing countries, bothof themleastdeveloped, namely, Burundi andRwanda. Theco-operation withthe countries mention.d coversavari.ty offi.ld.auchasbilateral programmes and projects, foodaidandtraininC) ofstudents inAustria. Whilecountryproj.cts are predominant, r.gional pro~ects intheXaq.raRiverBasin(feasibility studi.s in therailway androad.ectors) andSAnCe(infrastructural proj.cts) de.erv. partiCUlar m.ntion asth.ywillber.ceiving continu.d .mpha.is inthefuture. I •••A/44/588 English Page22 Boliv·tA 48.Intheparticular caseofB?livi~, theissueofland-lockedness isnota simpleproblem ofcommerce and/ortransport. Another aspectistheoutstanding trt\dit.ion inBolivi"" foreign policy andinternational '.aw,whichhas,onvarious occdsions, been elab~rated inUNCTAD andotherforums. Land-lockedness has seriouFly hamperec Bt)livia's ~verall development bylimiting itsindustrial growth anddraining thelimited foreign exchange, whichhaspartlytobeusedforthe payment oftransit services. Thehightransit-transport costsreduceexport receipts andinflate importcosts. Thishasreduced thecompetitiveneRs at Bolivian exports ontheworldmarket. 49.Thepossibilities ofpt'omoting animport-substitution industrial strateay designed toreducethedependence onhigh-cost imports havebeenlimited because Bolivia needstoimportmostoftheinputsrequired forproduction ofarangeof finalproducts. Anothe ...·problem facedbyBolivia, whic~liscommontoother land-locked countries, isthatthecountry mustpayanadditional costforth~ storage ofinputsinordertoavoidshortages inth$eventofdblaysinthe transit-transport sl'stem. Stocksofexports mustalsobeheldinportstnensure thatdeadlines aremetforsupplies tooverseas buyers. 50.Canadadoesnotmakeaparticular distinction withrespect toland-locked developing countries. Sincemanyofthelar.-locked nations are,however, among thepoorest intheworld,thesecountries aregranted priority forCanadian development assistonce, inkeeping withtheCanadian Government's ~fficial development assistance strategy. Several land-locked countries areregular recipients ofCanada's official development ausistance. Totalassistance tothese countries amounted tosomeSUS146.7million. Thebulkofthisassistance was allocated totheAfrican region (SUS106million). Assistance toBall''iaand Paraguay amounted toSUS26.5million. Thedisbursements toAsianland-locked countries wassomeSUS14.3million. Centraj Afric~n Republic 51.Inordertofacilitate t~etransit ofitsmerchandise andimported/exported goodsthrough seaports,the~ational Assembly hasauthorized theGovernment to ratifytheUnitedNations Convention onTransit TradeofLand-locked States (1965). TheGovernment isalsonegotiating somespecific translt arrangements with theGovernment olCameroon because Cameroon offersthemaintransit port facilitiAs. Onthedomestic front,theGovernment hasconsiderably simplified the
analysis: The text appears to be discussing the challenges faced by land-locked developing countries, including their difficulties in accessing international markets and the impact of high transit costs on their economies. It also mentions the efforts of various countries to provide assistance to these countries through bilateral and multilateral programs. This suggests that the text is primarily focused on economic development and international trade.