India, Oct. 10 -- World trade reached a record $35 trillion in 2025 - but developing countries were held back from greater participation in the global economy because of new technological and policy barriers, the UN trade and development agency UNCTAD said on Friday.

"Only a fraction of investment by companies is now driven by traditional concerns such as low labour costs," said senior UNCTAD official, Anastasia Nesvetailova.

"Instead, value is moving into strategic sectors, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, clean energy, advanced computing, where the barriers to entry are high and rising."

The agency identified increasing export controls, investment screening and supply-chain pre-conditions as the reasons why strategic sectors ...