Executive summary but never being completed. The legislative framework and the protracted process of revising laws have already been alluded to. The setting up of a national, corporate governance regulatory body has been over five years in the making. The process of setting up a commercial court, though it came to fruition, also took too long and is still at best a work in progress. This is also the prevailing situation with regard to operationalising the One-Stop Shop (OSS), whose roll-out is deemed to be too slow. 4.42 The APR Panel recommends that the government of Lesotho finalise and enact several pending pieces of legislation relevant to the promotion of good corporate governance, such as the Companies Act. Efforts must also be made to develop a national code of corporate governance and to conclude the establishment of a body responsible for the promotion of good corporate governance in the country. Above all, awareness-raising and information dissemination regarding corporate governance and CSR are needed. The private sector could play a greater role in this regard. 4.4 Socioeconomic development 4.43 Lesotho is predominantly a rural economy, with 76 per cent of its population dwelling in the rural areas. The country has very limited natural resource endowments, including agricultural and grazing land, but is richly endowed with water and, to a lesser extent, diamonds and other minerals. Arable land is limited, as the country is mostly mountainous or uncultivable. Poverty in Lesotho is widespread, with about 56.7 per cent of the population living under the poverty line. Life expectancy is estimated at 42 years. Additionally, the declining population growth rate, coupled with the high prevalence of HIV and AIDS (23.2 per cent or 270,000 adults), means that Lesotho’s limited human resources are steadily being depleted. 4.44 Through various national programmes and strategies, the government of Lesotho has, over the years, committed itself to improving the standards of living of its people and the welfare of Basotho society, as well as targeting a fairer distribution of wealth and development gains for its people. Vision 2020, adopted in 2005, underscored the government’s resolve to achieve a number of national objectives, as well as provide a framework for articulating various strategies and programmes to underpin this collective perspective. Nonetheless, Lesotho is constrained by the restrictive geographical, economic and human resources environment it finds itself in. The country is totally surrounded by South Africa, its main trading partner. The country relies heavily on its share of SACU revenues and the remittances of the Basotho labour force employed in South Africa. A significant proportion of fixed capital formation is either foreign-owned or financed from external loans and grants. The government’s thrust is to strengthen the export sector within the SACU and SADC and beyond into the US market through AGOA arrangements. This has helped to broaden the external economic environment of the country. Further, penetration of Lesotho’s exports into world markets will depend on the competitiveness of the country’s products. 4.45 The country’s efforts to achieve self-reliance and sustained development, attain the MDG targets and objectives, improve capacity for basic services, and diversify and raise the standard of living of the people in general are to a large extent conditioned by the above-mentioned factors. Lesotho 11