Speakers at a high level dialogue at the Prime Ministers Office held on Wednesday said LDC Graduation strategy of Bangladesh and the associated action plan should be highly specific and action oriented to ensure a smooth sustainable transition.
Secretaries of the concerned government ministries and divisions and high level representatives of various business chambers participated in the dialogue.
Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and Chair of the National Committee on LDC Graduation M Tofazzel Hossain Miah chaired the high level dialogue, says a press release.
Bangladesh is now scheduled to graduate from the LDC status in November 2026 after a five year preparatory period. The United Nations has recommended that a graduating LDC should prepare a national Smooth Transition Strategy (STS) during the preparatory period in cooperation with development and trading partners with targeted assistance from the UN system.
Accordingly, Bangladesh has recently started the process of STS formulation in collaboration with the UN system. As part of this process, the high level dialogue was organized to share the draft STS and the associated action plan with the relevant stakeholders and receive their feedback.
Speaking on the occasion, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and 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 Bangladeshs upcoming LDC graduation into opportunities.
Participants to the dialogue said the draft STS has been quite comprehensive, qualitative and informative. However, they also suggested that the action plan that would be formulated as part of the STS should be specific and action oriented.
They said the draft STS should also provide some specific recommendations on structural transformation, productivity enhancement, increasing domestic resource mobilization and tariff rationalization.
Secretary of the Economic Relations Division Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority ( BIDA) Lokman Hossain Miah, Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Md. Selim Uddin, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Industries Zakia Sultana among others spoke on the occasion.
Speakers also included former ERD Secretary and the current Alternate Executive Director of the World Bank Group Sharifa Khan, former Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Member of the National Board of Revenue Md Masud Sadiq, President of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) Kamran T Rahman, President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DCCI) Ashraf Ahmed, and President of Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries Abdul Muktadir.
National consultant on Bangladeshs STS Dr. M. A. Razzaque made a presentation highlighting the various aspects of the STS that is being formulated. International consultant on Bangladeshs STS Cuong Minh Nguyen also made a presentation on this occasion.
