The present paper examines five areas of interests of graduating LDCs such as Bangladesh in an evolving WTO. Newly emerging concerns which will have to inform the stance of the graduating LDCs; priorities for the graduating LDCs in the context of the Doha Round agenda (DDA) of the WTO; a possible stance of LDCs and graduating LDCs taking account of the new issues that emerged from the WTO MC11 in Buenos Aires; debates concerning WTO reforms and what this means for the LDCs; and a set of strategies that graduating LDCs, such as Bangladesh, in particular, should pursue to secure their offensive and defensive interests in the WTO, are discussed in various chapters of the paper.
Bangladesh is not alone in facing the challenge of graduation. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) projections are that the number of LDCs will come down from the current 47 to 41 by 2021 and to 35 by 2024. For Bangladesh and other graduating LDC members, their upcoming graduation will have important implications for their interests and priorities in the context of the WTO.
Professor Mustafizur Rahman and Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, the two Distinguished Fellows of CPD, prepared this paper in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Bangladesh Office.
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