Bangladesh has urged the international community to preserve and expand market access for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) by reversing protectionist trends and ensuring transparent, simplified, and development-friendly rules of origin.
Finance and Planning Adviser to the Prime Minister Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir made the call during the General Debate of the High-Level Segment of the UN Economic and Social Council, where he spoke on behalf of the Group of LDCs at the UN in New York yesterday.
“For graduating LDCs navigating complex domestic and global challenges, additional time is a strategic necessity to advance macroeconomic stability, implement the Smooth Transition Strategy (STS), and strengthen critical reforms,” he said.
The call comes as the UN Committee for Development Policy has recommended approving Bangladesh’s formal request to postpone its LDC graduation from November 2026 to November 2029. The recommendation now awaits formal ratification by the UN General Assembly.
Due to unprecedented political, macroeconomic, environmental, and external shocks, Bangladesh and Nepal have requested a three-year extension of their preparatory period until November 2029.
Describing progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as alarmingly off track, Titumir said the situation is even more critical for the LDCs.
“Persistent vulnerabilities, aggravated by climate change, rising debt burdens, constrained fiscal space, declining official development assistance (ODA), widening digital divides, and limited access to affordable finance continue to impede our development efforts.”
He said these challenges not only undermine the implementation of the 2030 Agenda but also put at risk the achievement of the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA), including its goal of enabling additional LDCs to achieve sustainable and irreversible graduation by 2031.
Currently, 14 LDCs are at different stages of the graduation process and continue to require sustained international support.
Titumir said the effective implementation of the DPoA is essential for addressing the structural constraints facing LDCs and strengthening resilience, productive capacity, and long-term sustainable development.
The DPoA Mid-Term Review, to be held next year, provides a critical opportunity to strengthen global partnerships and accelerate the implementation of agreed commitments.
Titumir said the LDC Group urged the participation of heads of state and government, ministers, and leaders of international financial institutions and development partners to ensure that the mid-term review produces transformational and implementable outcomes.
The LDC Group called for urgent action to scale up adequate, predictable, and affordable concessional financing to address debt vulnerabilities, alongside greater investment in education, health, productive capacity, resilient infrastructure, job creation, poverty eradication, social protection, and essential services.
“The international financial architecture must be reformed to better reflect the structural vulnerabilities of LDCs through expanded access to concessional resources, debt suspensions, sustainable debt solutions, and more equitable financing arrangements.
“Support for adaptation, resilience-building, the energy transition, and the Loss and Damage Fund should remain additional, adequate, and readily accessible.”
Titumir also called for enhanced international cooperation to strengthen energy security through investment in clean energy and resilient infrastructure.
