Speakers at a high level dialogue said that the LDC graduation strategy of Bangladesh and the associated action plan should be highly action-oriented to ensure a smooth and sustainable graduation.
Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and the Chair of the National Committee on LDC Graduation, M. Tofazzel Hossain Miah, chaired the high level dialogue held at the Prime Minister’s Office today.
Secretaries of the concerned government ministries and divisions as well as high level representatives of various business chambers participated in the dialogue, according to a press release.
It is noteworthy that Bangladesh met all the criteria for graduation from LDC status in 2018 and 2021 triennial reviews of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) of the United Nations.
Following a five years’ preparatory period, Bangladesh will graduate from the LDC status in November 2026.
It is recommended by the United Nations that a graduating LDC should prepare a national Smooth Transition Strategy (STS) during the preparatory period in cooperation with its development and trading partners and with targeted assistance from the UN system.
Accordingly, Bangladesh has recently started the process of STS formulation in collaboration with UN DESA. As part of this process, the high level dialogue was organized to share the draft STS as well as the associated action plan with the relevant stakeholders and to receive their feedback and recommendations.
Speaking on the occasion, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and the Chair of National Committee on LDC Graduation M. Tofazzel Hossain Miah said that the Smooth Transition Strategy can provide some effective recommendations for turning the challenges of Bangladesh’s upcoming LDC graduation into opportunities.
Participants of the dialogue observed that the draft STS has been quite comprehensive, qualitative and informative. However, they also opined that the action plan that would be formulated as part of the STS should be specific and action oriented.
They also said that the draft STS should provide some specific recommendations on structural transformation, productivity enhancement, increasing domestic resource mobilisation and tariff rationalisation.