Bangladesh today urged the international community for maintaining various facilities offered to Bangladesh for a long time to make the post-graduation period of the country more smooth and sustainable.
This appeal was made formally today before the UN Committee for Development Policy (UN-CDP) at a meeting of the expert group as part of the preparations for holding the ensuing triennial review meeting.
Bangladesh is going to get recommendations for the 2nd time for fulfilling the criteria of graduating from the LDC status in the triennial review meeting of the UN-CDP to be held in February 2021, said a Finance Ministry press release.
The release said Principal Coordinator on SDG Affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office Zuena Aziz led the Bangladesh delegation at the virtual meeting.
Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Fatima Yasmin made a presentation at the meeting highlighting the latest status of Bangladesh in favour of its graduation from LDC as well as the unprecedented development in different socio-economic fields of the country.
José Antonio Ocampo, Chair of the Committee on Development Policy (CDP), along with other high UN-CDP delegation members praised highly about the recent development trend of Bangladesh.
The UNCTAD in its assessment shared with the government last month found the country was well ahead of the required thresholds in the three criteria.
Being a LDC, the country has been enjoying trade preferences, development financing that includes official development assistance, technical assistance, and other forms of support.
But, once it gets the recognition of a developing country by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the country will be given three more years as a “grace period” for preparation.
The Bangladesh delegation in the meeting sought a timeframe of five years from 2021 to 2026 as preparatory period before the UN-CDP to make the graduation process smooth and sustainable.
While making her presentation, ERD Secretary said Bangladesh is going to get recommended for graduation from the LDC status in such time when the entire nation is celebrating the centenary birth of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the golden jubilee of the country’s independence.
Fatima in her presentation also urged the international community for maintaining the facilities to Bangladesh beyond the graduation period, providing necessary support to Bangladesh for ensuring adaptation to climate change as well as mobilizing more official development assistance for attaining the SDGs.
Bangladesh was recommended for LDC graduation by the CDP in its triennial review in 2018 as the country met the graduation criteria in Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, Human Assets Index (HAI), and Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI).
The CDP will review the country’s performance based on these criteria in its triennial meeting on February 7, 8, and 9. If the country meets the criteria in this review, it would be recommended for graduation.
According to the CDP, a country gets a three-year transition period to prepare itself. During this preparatory period, it continues to receive benefits from specific international support in the areas of trade, development assistance, and general support.
Recent official data suggests Bangladesh has met the criteria in its GNI, HAI, and EVI, to get out of the LDC bloc.
After this transition period, the country will no longer get such benefits.
General Economics Division (GED) member of the Planning Commission Dr Shamsul Alam, Finance Division Senior Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder, Foreign Ministry Senior Secretary Masud Bin Momen, PMO Secretary Md Tofazzal Hossain Mia, Commerce Secretary Md Jafar Uddin, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN Rabab Fatima, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh at the UN Mission in Geneva M Mostafizur Rahman, among others, attended the meeting.
Bangladesh was included in the LDC list in 1975. In 2015, it crossed the threshold of the World Bank-defined lower middle-income country and became eligible for graduation in 2018.
A country must cross the threshold on two of the three criteria in two consecutive triennial reviews to be considered for the graduation.
(Source: BSS)
