Staff Reporter:

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday directed the officials concerned to take all neces-sary precautionary measures so that no sector of the country is affected after its LDC graduation.
“We have already taken the decision (over LDC graduation). Now we have to move at full speed,” Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam quoted Prof Yunus as saying.
The press secretary was briefing newsmen following Chief Adviser’s meeting with the experts on the LDC graduation. The meeting was held at the Chief Adviser’s Office in the capital yesterday.
Briefing media at the Foreign Service Academy here, Shafiqul Alam said during the nearly two-hour meeting, the Chief Adviser directed all concerned for taking steps to ensure maximum bene-fits as Bangladesh remains confident to smoothly graduate from the LDC status.
He said Prof Yunus mentioned that Bangladesh would be a manufacturing and economic hub in the region and discussed how it could be made this hub in a better way after the graduation from LDC status.
The press secretary said the Chief Adviser also stressed the need for constant monitoring by a dedi-cated team so that no turbulence is seen in this journey saying “it is very critical part”.
Briefing reporters, Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Dr Anisuzzaman Chowdhury said they have discussed all the issues and listed the precautionary measures.
Citing examples of how other relatively weaker countries successfully graduated, he said, “We must have the confidence.”
Chowdhury said they are confident that there would be no problems but precautionary measures would be taken.
He said they are working on having a separate strong trade negotiating body as there is no such trade agency.
Replying to a query, the special assistant said they are continuing their economic diplomacy but in economic diplomacy all things cannot be shared. There are always challenges and opportunities to this end, he added.
Chowdhury said the graduation process should be seen positively instead of thinking of stepping back.
Bangladesh is scheduled to graduate from the Least Developed Country (LDC) category to a devel-oping nation in November 2026.