Govt prioritises ensuring smooth, sustainable LDC graduation

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Dr Ahmad Kaikaus said the government attaches the highest priority to ensuring smooth and sustainable LDC graduation from Bangladesh with momentum in its plans and executing such plans accordingly.  

"To this end, we have established an effective platform to support Sustainable Graduation taking all the relevant stakeholders on board," he said while speaking as a chief guest of a virtual meeting on "Graduation of Bangladesh from the least developed country (LDC) category and smooth transition towards sustainable development" held on Wednesday.

Economic Relations Division (ERD) of the Government of Bangladesh, The United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) and UN Committee for Development Policy (CDP) jointly arranged the meeting. 

The meeting reviewed the priorities of Bangladesh in preparing for graduation from the LDC category, smooth transition and the most important international support measures (ISMs)—including both traditional and new forms of support—needed from the international community.

Principal Coordinator (SDGs Affairs) of Prime Minister's Office Zuena Aziz, Director of OHRLLS and Chair of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on LDC Graduation Heidi Schroderus-Fox, and UN CDP Member and Chair for Sub-Group on LDCs Taffere Tesfachew spoke during the inaugural session the event.  

Secretary to Prime Minister's Office Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah chaired the event, while CDP Secretary Roland Mollerus joined him as the co-chair.

High officials from the government's ministries and divisions, UN Systems, development and trading partners, and private sector representatives participated in the meeting.

The virtual meeting was comprised of two business sessions. 

The first session was themed on "Preparing for Graduation and Smooth Transition and Support" during which Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh spoke on the challenges of LDC graduation and the way forward while ERD Secretary Fatima Yasmin delivered a presentation on "Planned Strategy for Smooth Graduation".

The second business session was themed on "Results of a Survey on Assistance Measures for LDC graduation in Bangladesh". 

During this session, UN CDP Member Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya spoke on the "CDP's Contribution to the Fifth UN Conference on LDCs and Global Support Measures". 

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Consultant Dr Fahmida Khatun presented the draft Survey Report on "Assistance Measures for LDC graduation in Bangladesh– Key Findings and Recommendations" in the meeting.

Member of the Planning Commission Dr Shamsul Alam, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, Member of the Planning Commission Sharifa Khan and Secretary of the Statistics and Informatics Division Mohammad Yamin Chowdhury also gave their comments during this business session.