With Bangladesh set to make the transition from a least developed to a developing country soon that might present some economic challenges for the country, business leaders and experts have called for enhancing competitiveness, negotiation skills and necessary policy reforms to effectively face the challenges.
According to reports, they made these observations participating in a webinar titled, ‘LDC Graduation of Bangladesh: Journey towards Economic Excellence’, organised by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and industry (DCCI) recently while underlining that emphasis should be on signing preferential trade agreements, free trade agreements and regional connectivity.
Taking part in the discussions, DCCI President Rizwan Rahman said to strengthen Bangladesh’s position in the international arena after the graduation from LDC, it was the right time to increase trade and investment as well as adopt long-term strategic planning and their effective implementation even as he maintained that developing negotiation skills, institutional capacity, export diversification, skill development, effective policy adoption and necessary policy reforms could play a pivotal role to be competitive after the graduation while adding that the country’s (Bangladesh’s) identity as a developing nation in the global arena would uphold the competitiveness of the country and would contribute to enhance export and FDI.
Meanwhile, President of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nihad Kabir, maintained that LDC graduation could be an opportunity for Bangladesh and said, “Apparently, we may think of losing a few benefits, but in the long run we will be benefited a lot. Many business scopes are still coming into Bangladesh…,” even as she called for improving negotiation skills and suggested conducting research with the help of international experts and practitioners to identify the post-graduation challenges and opportunities for Bangladesh.
