While there is rightful excitement about Bangladesh shedding its tag of being a least developed country (LDC) and becoming a full-fledged middle-income economy in the next few years, we must remain cognizant of the numerous challenges that come from this graduation.
Most prominently, as stated by a leading Bangladeshi think-tank, losing access to preferential market access that allows many of our industries to trade with countries at lower taxes will be one of the biggest challenges.
Indeed, Bangladesh losing some of its total export value as a result of the graduation is almost a given at this point, and could be equivalent to about 14.3% of the country's global export.
All of this points to the need for change, which will start with us acknowledging that there will be challenges that come with our eventual graduation, and that we must be prepared and start pro-actively thinking about what we are to do.
This newspaper has editorialized repeatedly about not only diversifying our export basket -- which relies too heavily on RMG currently -- but also the need to upskill and develop industries which are in demand in the 21st century.
To that end, the importance of shifting from preference-driven competitiveness to skills and productivity-driven competitiveness cannot be stated enough if our export performance is to not only be sustained but also be enhanced and taken to the next level.
In addition, regional cooperation and bilateral trade agreements must continue to be prioritized; we must maximize any and every opportunity presented to us to offset the challenges that will come with graduation. It is a significant step for Bangladesh, and as long as we are not caught unprepared, there is no reason for us to suffer as a result of it.
