Located between the Andes and the Amazon, Bolivia is the highest and most isolated country in South America inhabited by about 10.1 million people. Bolivia is one of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest countries, despite an abundance of mineral resources. Its economy has always been dependent on mineral exports, principally of tin. Bolivia was one of the first Latin American countries to institute market liberalizations, in 1985. In the past two years Bolivia’s economy has grown and trade began to recover from its 2009 low (the year with the lowest growth rate since 2003). The economy grew 5.1% in 2011.

Kosovo is a small country of 11000 square km and a population less then 2 million of people. More than half of landlocked Kosovo’s people live in poverty. Although it possesses rich mineral resources, agriculture is the main economic activity because of decades of under-development. Kosovos’ authorities and enterprising communities, including Kosovans in the diaspora, were able to kick-start an economic recovery in the years following the 1999 conflict. Growth of GDP peaked at 5.4 percent in 2008, after the immediate post-conflict surge. Now the economy is rising again, at 4.3 percent, following the 2009 global economic crisis. Kosovo has reached a critical juncture. The next few years could establish Kosovo firmly on the road to a stable and prosperous future, in which its far-reaching development aspirations are fulfilled.

The Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, bordered to the west by Romania and to the north, east and south by Ukraine. It is one of the most densely populated European countries, with a population of 4.1 million. There have been many positive changes in recent years, in particular in relation to poverty reduction and democratic governance. Key reforms in the justice sector and decentralization underpinned progress on the path of the country’s European integration. After nearly twenty years of transition to a market economy, the Republic of Moldova remains the poorest country in Europe, although poverty has steadily declined throughout the last decade.