A constitutional monarchy headed by King Letsie lll, the ‘Mountain Kingdom’ of Lesotho is a land of a myriad of contrasts, where a rich cultural heritage and ancient traditions exist alongside recent progress and modernization.

Famous for its spectacular scenery and soaring mountain vistas of unsurpassed beauty and tranquility, Lesotho is the only independent country with its entire territory over 1000 metres above sea level hence befitting to be called the ‘Kingdom in the Sky’. The spectacular country’s highlands form one of the most important water catchment areas in Southern Africa, producing Lesotho’s most abundant natural resource, water, commonly referred to as ‘white gold’ which is exported to the Republic of South Africa.

Landlocked and surrounded on all sides by South Africa, Lesotho’s economy is integrated with that of its only neighbor. While in the 1990s infrastructure development, in particular the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, was an important catalyst for economic growth and development, clothing and textile manufacturing has played a pivotal role in employment creation and economic expansion in the present decade. More recently there has been promising developments in the food and beverage subsectors as well as the mining industry, with both horticulture and tourism possessing potential for future growth.

Globalisation is a key issue, and the country is playing an ever more active role in the regional and international organizations, including the Southern African Development Community (SADC), African Union (AU), the Commonwealth, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), and the United Nations (UN). As a member of the World trade Organisation’s Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group, Lesotho hosted the LDC Ministerial Meeting in Maseru during February, 2008 in order to review the progress made in Doha Development Round Table negotiations.