Call to sustain economic reform

Bangladesh has challenges ahead in areas like health, education, and financing as the nation transitions from a least-developed country, speakers said Wednesday.
They said that though LDC graduation is "a great achievement" for the country, it also faces the challenge for maintaining export income.
The views came at a seminar on "Bangladesh's Graduation from LDCs: Opportunities, Challenges and Imperatives' at the state think-tank Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies in Dhaka.
Organised jointly by BIISS and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the seminar was attended by foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali.
UN under secretary Fekitamoeloa Katoa Utoikamanu and World Food Program Country Director and UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Christa Rader were present at the seminar, where distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Professor Mustafizur Rahman presented the keynote paper.
Head of Delegation of European Union to Bangladesh Rensje Teerink, Executive Director of the Policy Research Institute Ahsan H Mansur, Acting Research Director of BIISS Mahfuz Kabir and President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry M Shafiul Islam spoke as thematic speakers.
Presided over by BIISS Director General AKM Abdur Rahman, the event was also addressed by Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque.
Professor Rahman highlighted the country's indictors that helped the country achieve the LDC criteria.
He also stressed focusing on achieving the sustainable development goals side by side the LDC graduation and looking for new financing sources and market access.
The CDP fellow said the graduation would also help the country ensure export competitiveness, overcome the traps as a middle-income country with creating jobs, attracting foreign direct investment, improving business regulations among many others indicators.
Through making SDGs successful, the country will not only ensure the LDC graduation but also ensure inclusive LDC graduation through inclusive economy as the country is in a better position than its peers, he added.
The EU head of the delegation, however, underlined the need for meeting the criteria of getting GSP-Plus and EBA facilities for three more years after the country's graduation in 2024.
She termed the country's achievement "fantastic" but said the political commitment towards labour issues was important to sustain the gain the country has achieved.
"EU's GSP Plus is not automatic … unless serious negotiation, you can't except to get the tariff advantage in the EU market," she told the seminar. Ahsan Mansur laid emphasis on sustained economic reform and institutional development, raising wages for workers without losing international competitiveness to upgrade its position and move towards a middle-income country.
He said that without skill development, workers' productivity cannot be increased.
The PRI executive director said population pressure, climate change and international trend towards automation of production would complicate the national efforts in sustaining higher growth.
The UN under secretary Fekitamoeloa Katoa Utoikamanu urged the policy makers and stakeholders to carefully assess the graduation and said the LDC graduation needed to focus on multiple challenges on the trade anad services fronts.
The WFP country director underlined the need for reducing inequality.
The foreign minister said LDC graduation proved that the country's development is on right track but admitted the challenges ahead to maintain the development.

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