Staff Reporter :
The United Nations Committee for Development Policy (UN CDP) has formally requested Bangladesh to submit an update on its preparations for graduating from the Least Developed Country (LDC) category, as the country nears its scheduled transition in November 2026.
In a letter dated 25 August, CDP Chair José Antonio Ocampo invited Bangladesh-along with other graduating LDCs-to provide an annual progress report by October this year on the implementation of their Smooth Transition Strategies (STSs). These reports will feed into CDP’s monitoring framework for graduating nations.
The request comes amid growing pressure from Bangladesh’s business community, which has been urging the interim government to seek a deferral of graduation by up to six years, citing an economic slowdown, financial sector instability, and insufficient readiness to face post-graduation global competition.
Officials in Dhaka, however, described the CDP’s call as a “routine exercise” under the Enhanced Monitoring Mechanism (EMM), which tracks both graduating and recently graduated countries.
The EMM not only reviews the three key criteria for graduation-income, human assets, and economic vulnerability-but also considers a wide range of Supplementary Graduation Indicators (SGIs).
Speaking to media earlier this month, UN CDP member and Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) distinguished fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya stressed that Bangladesh’s upcoming report will carry significant weight.
“How Bangladesh presents its case in that report will influence any subsequent request for deferment,” he said. According to Bhattacharya, Bangladesh’s EMM report is likely to be discussed during a consultation with the CDP on 25 November 2025, with the findings set for review at the CDP’s February 2026 plenary session.
In his letter, Ocampo also underscored that the UN General Assembly has mandated the CDP to continue its consultations with both graduating and recently graduated LDCs.
To this end, Bangladesh has been invited to join a virtual consultation with the CDP between October and December 2025.
Bangladesh is currently on track to graduate alongside Nepal and Lao PDR. However, whether the country will adhere to the current timeline-or push for a delay-may hinge on how convincingly it outlines its preparedness and challenges in the upcoming report.
