Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Friday called for an incentive-based and long-term package for the graduating and graduated countries from LDCs as they are at a high risk of sliding back -- both due to the Covid-19 impacts and the loss of LDC specific support measures, reports UNB.
The Foreign Minister said most of the LDCs have limited fiscal buffers and absence of ex-ante insurance schemes against shocks, which make their graduation trajectory highly challenging.
Dr Momen was speaking as a keynote speaker at a high-level virtual event on 'Building Resilience for Sustainable and Irreversible Graduation of the LDCs' hosted by the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh in New York in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of Canada and the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS).
He underlined the importance of adequate financing and resources as critical means for LDCs to keep pace with graduation expectations.
Dr Momen emphasised that LDCs need enhanced financing support to mitigate critical deficits in physical and institutional infrastructure and capacity building.
Eisenhower Mkaka, MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malawi and the Chair of the Global coordination bureau of the LDCs, also delivered a keynote speech at the event.
Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General, UNDESA, Fekitamoeloa Katoa 'Utoikamanu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative, OHRLLS, Taffere Tesfachew, Chair of the Committee for Development Subgroup on LDCs, Permanent Representatives of Qatar and Nepal, and Deputy Permanent Representative of Turkey also spoke on the occasion.
Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Rabab Fatima made the opening remarks while the Canadian Permanent Representative Ambassador Robert Rae delivered the closing remarks. They are the co-chairs of the Preparatory Committee of the 5th UN conference on LDCs.
Identifying political vision as the key to a LDC's development trajectory towards graduation, Dr Momen said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina led Bangladesh's graduation journey from the front.
The recommendation by the UN Committee for Development Policy for graduation of Bangladesh was a momentous occasion for the entire nation, he said.
It coincided with the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh's independence and the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation.
Bangladesh's graduation was built on the vision of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to transform Bangladesh into a middle-income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041, said the Foreign Minister, adding that the "Digital Bangladesh" revolution also paved the way to accelerate Bangladesh's progress.
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