Bangladesh is trying to get continued preferential trade facilities even after being recognized as a developing country, says ERD secretary.
Sharifa Khan, Secretary of the Department of Economic Relations, made the remarks while speaking as chief guest at a workshop titled, "Effective Engagement of the Media for Sustainable Graduation," held at the NEC-2 conference room in the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
She said, “There is no doubt that there will be challenges in trade if the country enters into the club of developing nations.”
“In addition, to face those challenges, ERD is trying to pursue getting the trade benefits through bilateral relations beyond the LDC graduation,” she mentioned. She said that the duty-free and quota-free facilities for countries like Bangladesh in the EU and the UK would continue till 2029 while Australia would also extend such facility.
“ERD is trying to get such facilities continued for us beyond LDC graduation,” she said.
Organized by Support to Sustainable Graduation Project (SSGP) of the ERD, its project director and additional secretary Farid Aziz chaired the workshop.
The workshop was organized for the members of the Development Journalists Forum of Bangladesh (DJFB).
Noting that the LDC graduation is bringing some challenges as well as opportunities for the country, Sharifa said that Bangladesh has to grow its mindset of lending others instead of taking assistance from other countries.
She informed that the ERD has been continuing its efforts to increase trade facilities through nurturing the bilateral relations.
Suggesting that all concerned stakeholders need to take necessary preparations considering the evolving trade scenarios of the developing countries, the ERD secretary said that the LDC graduation would bring immense potentials if productivity is increased alongside improvement in the business environment.
"We're also preparing necessary action plan in this regard," she added.
ERD joint secretary and component manager of SSGP project Dr Md Rezaul Bashar Siddique made a power-point presentation on - "An overview of LDC graduation: Bangladesh perspective," while joint Secretary Anwar Hossain of SSGP also made a power-point presentation on - "Measures for Sustainable Graduation."
DJFB President Hamid Uz Zaman also spoke.
According to ERD, Bangladesh has been comfortably qualified for graduation for two consecutive triennial reviews of the United Nations Committee for Development Policy (UN-CDP) in 2018 and 2021 and is set to graduate from the LDC category in 2026.
The success of continued progress in the social and economic areas contributed to achieving this historic achievement amidst global economic and climate challenges.
