The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has formed a high-powered committee to find out the possible challenges of the country after graduating from the least developed country (LDC) in 2026 and overcome those challenges.
The 22-member committee, comprising public and private sector representatives, will determine the impacts of the LDC graduation on different sectors, prepare plans for handling the challenges, implement the plans, and monitor these.
The PMO issued a gazette on Tuesday on forming the body, headed by the PMO principal secretary.
The committee members from public sector include secretaries and top officials of different ministries and departments, including the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Finance Division, General Economic Division (GED), Economic Relations Division, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, Planning Commission, and ministries of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), foreign affairs, commerce, industries, agriculture, environment, and liberation war.
From private sector, presidents of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), and Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceuticals Industries (BAPI) have been included as members of the committee.
The PMO Executive Cell director has been made its member-secretary.
The committee will take necessary initiatives to expand bilateral, multilateral and international trade.
It will also prepare recommendations to frame favourable customs policies that are consistent with free trade agreements (FTA) or preferential trade agreements (PTA).
As per work-plan of the committee, all the ministries and departments will prepare their respective time-bound and specific plans.
The body will receive the plans and ensure their proper implementation through providing advice and monitoring, the gazette said.
The committee members will conduct a mapping of responsible and associate ministries and departments on the basis of sectors determined for them. The body will sit quarterly to review updates.
Bangladesh has met all three eligibility criteria for the LDC graduation, involving income per capita, human assets, and economic and environmental vulnerability.
The Committee for Development Policy of the United Nations (UN CDP) is set to recommend taking Bangladesh out of the list of LDCs.
After graduation as a middle-income country, Bangladesh will lose LDC-specific preferences, particularly in the area of duty-free quota-free (DFQF) access to export markets.
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