Graduation from LDC status is a momentous achievement
We are delighted that the United Nations General Assembly, on November 24, gave its final approval for Bangladesh to graduate from the least developed country (LDC) category to that of a developing country. It is a major milestone in our development journey—one we can be extremely proud of. As Bangladesh celebrates its Golden Jubilee of independence, this achievement establishes us on the global map as a country with great potential. While we celebrate this accomplishment, we also hope that Bangladesh will be successful in living up to that potential.
However, the graduation, while a momentous achievement, will bring with it a host of new challenges. As Bangladesh enters the developing nations' bracket in 2026, only the EU and the UK will continue to give Bangladesh their preferential trade benefits until 2029; the rest of the countries will withdraw their concessions. Many of the other trade benefits that Bangladesh currently enjoys will cease to exist, meaning that the country has a lot of hard work to do to discover new trade-related opportunities. Our exports, which are going to lose their duty-free, quota-free market access, will have to be diversified and made more competitive. Bangladesh must also diversify its export destinations, and to that end, experts have been calling on the government to try and negotiate free trade agreements with individual countries as well as with different trade blocs. The authorities need to carefully study the pros and cons of these key decisions to make the country's graduation go smoothly.
The graduation to developing country status will affect all our industries in one way or another; therefore, the government has to try and create a more business-friendly environment in the country and provide greater support to our businesses. Identifying which industries will require what kind of support will be a key challenge for the authorities going forward. In line with that, we urge them to involve experts from different fields, as well as various industry stakeholders, in all its important decision-making procedures. Bangladesh must also strengthen the overall capacity of its economy; besides, diversification of the economy, technological upgradation, skills development and institutional strengthening should be prioritised.
Most importantly, as a developing country, Bangladesh has to try and strengthen its democracy, and improve its human rights record. It is a matter of great disappointment that at a time when Bangladesh is being globally recognised for making great progress in certain areas—as evidenced by its graduation—the state of democracy in the country is in such peril. Therefore, democratic institution-building is something that the authorities have to urgently focus on, because ultimately, the benefits of graduation will only be meaningful if they are distributed fairly among all citizens, and when the government functions in the interest of protecting the rights of the people.
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