Molecular clouds and star formation in the local group

Giant molecular clouds are formation sites of massive stars and stellar clusters. In order to understand the galactic evolution, we need to have comprehensive knowledge on giant molecular clouds and formation of stars therein. Only in the Local Group we can make such a detailed study of individual clouds in external galaxies. In this contribution I will summarize and discuss the recent results of relevant molecular observations of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Galaxy obtained with NANTEN along with a brief review of the CO observations of the other members in the Local Group.