Visiting UN team seeks roadmap on Smooth Transition Strategy

The visiting United Nations (UN) assessment team in Dhaka has sought a roadmap on the Smooth Transition Strategy (STS) from local businesses, which will help ensure a sustainable graduation of the country from the Least- Developed Country (LDC) status.

In response to that, business leaders at a meeting held on Sunday informed the team that a roadmap had been drawn but its implementation was very poor.

In the next one year, it might not be possible to fully implement the roadmap, they said.

Highlighting the challenges the country might face during this transition, they said Bangladesh would need at least five more years to fully prepare.

According to meeting sources, the UN delegation wanted to know about the challenges from the business community and requested the STS roadmap, which would detail how it would be implemented if a time extension was granted.

"We informed the UN team that a small part of the STS was implemented during the last several years, and there is still a lack of proper preparation for a smooth LDC graduation," Bangladesh Employers' Federation (BEF) President Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, who attended the meeting, said.

He told The Financial Express after the meeting that Bangladesh still depended on a single product - ready-made garment (RMG) - and also a few markets.

Ehsan said the team wanted to know in detail the challenges the industry faced and also asked for a roadmap outlining the preparations over the next five years. The roadmap from the industry side would be shared with them shortly, he noted.

Leaders of the RMG sector, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), and other major business bodies attended the meeting.

Munni_fe@yahoo.com