Lao PDR is scheduled to graduate on 24 November 2026 (see the General Assembly resolution here).

The Lao PDR's Smooth Transition Strategy for 2026 and Beyond
CDP monitoring report for Lao PDR, 2025
Lao PDR's LDC fact sheet (CDP website) (includes CDP reports, ECOSOC and General Assembly resolutions, Lao PDR's performance against the graduation criteria, ex ante assessment of the impacts of graduation, vulnerability profile, graduation assessment, country statements to the CDP)

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Documents on Lao PDR

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	Document Title	Topic	Date
	The Lao PDR Smooth Transition Strategy for LDC Graduation in 2026 and beyond The Smooth Transition Strategy (STS) sets out Lao PDR’s plans to manage the historic LDC graduation process.	LDC graduation and smooth transition	18 June 2025
	Non-Tariff Measures in the context of LDC graduation: Cambodia, Lao PDR and Timor-Leste. CSS Working Paper No. 24-5. Bangkok: ESCAP. (Kharel, Paras, Kshitiz Dahal, and Nyingtob Pema Norbu) "The paper explores the impact of non-tariff measures (NTMs) on Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), and Timor-Leste as they prepare for graduation from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status.	LDC graduation and smooth transition	27 November 2024
	CDP Monitoring Reports 2022 - Lao PDR Lao PDR had robust economic growth, averaging over 6% per annum over 2015-2019, but the growth slowed down significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.	LDC graduation and smooth transition	28 February 2022
	Textiles and clothing in Asian graduating LDCs - Challenges and options. EIF, ITC, UNDESA, UNCTAD, WTO The textile and clothing sector in five Asian least developed countries (LDCs) — Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Nepal — makes heavy use of trade preferences for LDCs and is one of the main sectors likely to be impacted by graduation from the category.	LDC graduation and smooth transition	01 February 2022
	Lao PDR - Developing the strategic guidelines for climate financing, considering possible linkages between climate financing and post COVID-19 agricultural development Report of the DESA project, “Strengthening the capacity of least developed countries to develop evidence‐based, coherent and well financed strategies to implement the 2030 Agenda”	Climate change and energy	14 October 2021
	Summary of the webinar on the implications of LDC graduation for the textiles and clothing sector, 7 May 2021 - WTO The WTO, in cooperation with ITC, UNCTAD and UNDESA, organized a webinar on 7 May 2021. It kicked off an inter-agency collaboration to undertake an in-depth sectoral study on the implications of LDC graduation for the textiles and clothing (T&C) sector.	LDC graduation and smooth transition	07 May 2021
	Smooth transition for graduating LDCs under the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism 4 May 2021. Daniel Gay. It is widely accepted that least developed countries (LDCs) leaving the category need special measures to smooth the transition. The next graduates include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Lao PDR and Solomon Islands, but others will soon follow.	Trade	04 May 2021
	Structural Transformation, LDC Graduation and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: Policy Options for Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Myanmar, Anisuzzaman Chowdhury for UNESCAP This paper has four objectives.	Productive capacity, structural transformation, technology, innovation	12 April 2021
	The impact of COVID-19 on South-East Asia 30 July 2020.	COVID-19	30 July 2020
	Improved assistance measures for graduated and graduating least developed countries for the achievement of agenda 2030 (CDP Policy Review No. 9; Ana L. Cortez) LDC graduation has become an increasingly important issue in the international development agenda. Meeting graduation eligibility is a major goal of the Istanbul Plan of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 201-2020 (IPoA).	LDC graduation and smooth transition	30 September 2019

Photo UN in Lao PDR/Lou Sensouphone

Photo UN in Lao PDR/Lou Sensouphone