Chief Adviser’s Special Envoy on International Affairs Lutfey Siddiqi has outlined five key areas Bangladesh must focus on to effectively manage LDC graduation, stressing that the process is inevitable.
“So, what do we need to do? Acknowledge that the fact of graduation is unavoidable. Even if it is delayed by a couple of years, it does not change our book of work,” Siddiqi said while delivering the keynote at the ILO Asia-Pacific Conference on Labour and LDC Issues in Bangkok on Tuesday.
He noted that the changing world order of aid and tariffs in recent months shows there are fewer unilateral, non-reciprocal, unconditional privileges.
“No-one will say: please enjoy these privileges, continue to access their markets, protect your own markets, and do whatever you like with labour, environmental, or intellectual property standards,” he added.
“The best we can do is to try to ensure a smooth transition as opposed to a sudden, ‘cliff switch’ in our terms of trade,” Siddiqi said.
He also stressed the importance of embracing the opportunities of graduation. “Remember, we have sound fundamentals in terms of people and location and we should be attracting considerable investments if we get this right. We are starting with a positive vision, a recipe for reforms, which should quickly move onto a time-bound roadmap of who needs to do what by when,” Siddiqi said.
He highlighted the need to diversify exports, which requires deliberate sales and marketing of existing products and building capacity for new products.
Creation of new products and industries, he said, will need fresh investment, particularly foreign investment.
“That in turn will require practical reforms in logistics, customs, ports, inland waterways, airports … And that will require reforms in public administration – in the way the government operates – including nationwide digital processes that will formalise large parts of the informal sector,” he added.
Siddiqi stressed the need to negotiate free trade agreements or economic partnership agreements with key countries to secure friction-free market access.
“These agreements increasingly cover multiple chapters, including labour standards and movement of people, beyond just tariffs,” he said.
Skills and training, he said, require urgent attention: targeted training is needed to help workers and entrepreneurs face competition and meet new demand in specialised areas.
“I was actually in Japan last week partly to help conclude our first major FTA/EPA with them, but also to establish a structured process to send 100,000 skilled workers in targeted vocations there,” he said.
Siddiqi noted that major export markets, like the European Union, will extend preferential access (GSP Plus) only if Bangladesh upgrades standards, especially labour standards.
“Conversely, if we can demonstrate credible progress in advancing those standards, we are likely to receive a sympathetic ear for transitional privileges,” he said.
He described labour reforms in post-uprising Bangladesh as a moral imperative, noting the government’s commitment to promoting dignity and decency in the workplace. “For the first time in history, we stood up a national-level Labour Reform Commission alongside fundamental commissions reviewing constitutional, parliamentary, or judiciary reforms,” he said.
The process, he added, involves consensus-building with all political parties ahead of the elections.
The business community supports the government’s labour reforms for their direct impact on export market access.
“Sure, we’re nervous about execution and implementation risks. But negotiating an extension to LDC graduation or favourable post-LDC terms will not be easy, especially with an Article 26 complaint pending at the ILO governing board,” Siddiqi said.
“The good news is we expect to have completed most obligations under the roadmap agreed with the ILO: both in legislation and in labour relations,” he added.
Siddiqi concluded by highlighting the three Rs guiding his approach: “We have to put rights, relations and resilience at the centre of everything that we do. Please wish us luck!”
