Coordination at the national level for LDC graduation

Coordinating within the government and with other stakeholders in preparation for graduation is important to ensure all relevant counterparts are well informed and have opportunities to provide inputs to the preparation of the smooth transition strategy.  Several line ministries may have responsibilities in areas related to graduation, including (but not limited to) ministries of trade/commerce, foreign affairs, industry, and environment. Here are some examples of how countries have managed this coordination:

• Bangladesh: early in the process, the government established a national task force and a core group of government entities (LDC core group) involved with graduation, designated focal points in different ministries which conducted assessments of impacts within their areas of work, held discussions about graduation in several forums, included the issue of graduation in planning exercises and in the strategy for SDG implementation, and elaborated a project entitled “Support to Bangladesh’s Smooth and Sustainable Graduation from LDC” to conduct special studies related to the impacts of graduation, invest in further outreach, and other functions. Different institutions had been approached to analyse issues of particular concern, 
  such as the effect of graduation on TRIPS. 
  • It has since formed a National Committee on LDC Graduation (NCG) chaired by the Principal Secretary to the Honorable Prime Minister. The Committee involves all relevant Ministries and other organizations from the public and private sectors. It is intended as a platform to support a sustainable graduation with stakeholder involvement.  Under its direction, seven thematic subcommittees were formed to address core issues: market access; intellectual property rights; other WTO issues; investment, domestic market development and export diversification; internal resource mobilization and tariff rationalization; smooth transition strategy and branding Bangladesh abroad.

• Vanuatu: In March 2016, the Council of Ministers (COM) endorsed the establishment of a National Coordinating Committee (NCC) comprised of various relevant stakeholders to coordinate the development of a smooth transition strategy. It also created a Secretariat to the NCC to support the process and facilitate consultations with national stakeholders. Vanuatu's smooth transition strategy can be read here.

• Bhutan: Bhutan's is preparing for graduation in the context of its 12th five-year development plan.
  • National level consultations were undertaken in the preparation process to discuss, prioritize and build consensus on the socio-economic issues, goals and objectives of the plan. LDC graduation and the SDGs were considered in this context. Comprehensive consultations were carried out between 2016 and 2018 with all levels of government, ministries, sectors, local governments, parliamentarians, communities at the grassroots level across the nation, and all other potential stakeholders including civil-society organizations through participatory planning approaches, processes and engagement.
  • In April 2021 Bhutan created an LDC task force led by the Gross National Happiness Commission Secretariat, which includes key sectors related to Bhutan’s graduation; Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Statistics Bureau and the National Environment Commission.
  • The 2021 CDP monitoring report for Bhutan is available here (PDF). 

• Nepal created an LDC Steering Committee to provide directions on LDC graduation matters.  The committee is chaired by the Vice-Chairperson of the National Planning Commission and includes representatives of line ministries including Finance; Foreign Affairs; Industry, Commerce and Supplies; and Education, Science and Technology.  The steering committee also includes non-governmental stakeholders such as private sector organizations.  Additionally, the National Planning Commission has a division that coordinates activities related to LDC graduation and liaises with the CDP regarding monitoring. 

• Angola had a National Consultative Committee for LDC Graduation, which it later combined with its Committee on the Sustainable Development Goals so that the graduation roadmap was mainstreamed into the National Plan and budget.