Distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Mustafizur Rahman said that Bangladesh is doing well in all the indicators to be promoted from the least developed country status to a developing country.
"If everything goes well, by November 2026, Bangladesh will come under the category of a developing country," he said.
Dr Mustafizur was speaking at a roundtable discussion on "The outcome of 13th Ministerial Conference, Abu Dhabi, UAE" as the chief discussant organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) at CA Bhaban in the city on Sunday.
Professor Mustafizur Rahman was also the Paper Presenter on the outcome of 13th Ministerial Conference while ICAB President Mohammed Forkan Uddin FCA delivered address of welcome.
He said as a result, being a less developed country, the issue of continuing the benefits such as duty free, quota free access and preferential treatment for some more time should be strongly negotiated.
"Japan, Canada and South Korea have been providing tariff benefits to LDCs, and we need to negotiate with them to continue the benefits, "he added.
Mustafizur said that there are three issues in front of Bangladesh which are less developed country, developing from less developed country, and developing country. "Work should be done keeping in mind the production, efficiency and competitive market. After 2026 with no market access, product diversification will be required to survive. Export trade should be diversified. We need to do more free trade agreement, comprehensive trade agreement,"
Besides, Dr Mustafizur said development of the transport sector should be used to establish economic corridors in the country adding that action must be taken to transform comparative advantage into competitive advantage.
In order to get flexibility in fisheries subsidies, he said Bangladesh needs to take steps to negotiate as well as enter into various agreements. "At present, no tariffs are imposed on e-commerce in LDCs. As a result, Bangladesh is avoiding about $40 million in customs duties annually. It should also be discussed here," he said.
Noting that the WTO needs to be reformed, the renowned economist said the United States is not appointing anyone to the appellate department because each country has the power to exercise VETO. The European Union (EU) is operating by setting up an alternative system, he further said.
Professor Mustafizur said that in the last 53 years, 60 countries were promoted from least developed countries (LDC) to developing countries, 15 countries are at different stages of LDC graduation while 5 countries including Bangladesh have fixed time for LDC graduation.
ICAB CEO Shubhashish Bose and other invited guests are also spoke on the occasion. —BSS
