Leaders of 16 major business chambers and associations have urged Bangladesh to keep its transition from Least Developed Countries (LDC) intact. They also said that Bangladesh needs to prepare more for its transition to developing country status. They also requested the Bangladesh Government to postpone the graduation deadline scheduled for November 2026 by three to five years.
These issues were raised at a joint press conference at the InterContinental Dhaka. The president of the International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICC-B) Mr. Mahbubur Rahman said at the press conferences that after graduation, Bangladesh may face problems in some major sectors like the garment sector and the pharmaceutical sector and many lose access to the country’s priority markets.
He also gave some examples and said ,” Maldives was eight years delayed in their graduation period while Botswana took 20 years”. At the same time, he spoke about Vanuatu and Bhutan and asked Bangladesh to learn from them and adopt the right methods to plan for a prosperous graduation plan.
He also noted that businesses need more time to develop trade agreements with the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the Gulf countries, which will help us overcome some of the impact of US tariffs.
He further said that due to the current global situation, especially “ electric debt pressure, economic pressure, foreign investment slowdown, undervaluation of local currency,ect, Bangladesh will have to take some time to overcome these issues first.” Then Bangladesh should work on the issue of Bangladesh’s transition from a least developed country according to a proper plan.
