Twelve least developed countries (LDCs) have agreed to consider the "national productivity improvement" as a key factor for graduating certain countries to middle income nations by 2020.
At a three-day regional meeting on "Financing the graduation gaps of the Asia-Pacific LDCs" in Dhaka, 12 countries including Bangladesh discussed Thursday adopting some policies to become a middle income country (MIC) coming out from their present LDC status.
The Economic Relations Division (ERD), UNESCAP and United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs organised the 3-day conference.
The 12 participating LDCs are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Solomon Islands, East Timor, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
After the closing session, ERD Secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin at a press briefing said the participating LDCs agreed that they want to raise their national productivity to become a MIC.
"Once the LDCs sought increased official development assistance (ODA) from the developed nations. Later, it sought the preferential trade facilities too. Now the LDCs want to improve their national productivity along with the increased ODA and preferential trade facilities from the developed nations," said the secretary.
He said the LDCs have made some recommendations to assess demands for the resources, way of boosting local resources, finding out sources of the continuous/fresh resource mobilizations, infrastructure development and framing the national policy on the vulnerability and potential of certain nations.
When asked about the financing gap of Bangladesh, ERD secretary Mejbahuddin said the country needs to invest US$10-$11 billion every year for coming out of the LDC status.
Chief of the Countries With Special Needs Section under the Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division, UNESCAP, Syed Nuruzzaman said if LDCs want to graduate to a MIC, each of the nations needs US$6.0 billion additional investments from this year.
Meanwhile, commerce minister Tofail Ahmed said at the closing session of the 3-day regional conference that Bangladesh would be graduated to a MIC by 2021. Dr. Mashiur Rahman, Economic Affairs Adviser to Prime Minister presided over the session.
"If the country is graduated, its economy will not be affected as the developed nations may offer GSP (Generalised System of Preference) plus facilities," he said adding some people believe that the country will lose all the benefits from the developed nations after the graduation.
He claimed that Bangladesh is on the right track to become a MIC by the year 2021.
In the 3-day regional conference, the 12 LDCs also agreed to boost the investment both from home and abroad.
For this the LDCs need to ensure more local resources mobilisation, maximum use of the foreign assistance, increase the foreign direct investment and creation of the investment friendly environment for attracting more Public Private Partnership.
They also agreed to exchange knowledge among the LDCs, free flow of manpower migration to all the nations for becoming the MIC.
For coming out of the LDC status, a certain nation will have to obey two out of three criteria.
First, a certain LDC needs raising its per capita gross national income (GNI) to $1190, secondly, the Economic Vulnerability Index threshold to be boosted to 32 and thirdly, the Human Asset Index threshold to 66.
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