Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the international community to seriously consider extending benefits like preferential market access and TRIPS waiver to those countries even after transitioning from LDCs.

He said this at a high-level thematic roundtable meeting titled ‘Enhancing the Participation of Least Development Countries (LDCs) in International Trade and Regional Integration’ at the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC) on Tuesday (March 7).

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that even after the transition from least developed countries, certain benefits for LDCs including priority market access and TRIPS waiver should be extended to those countries for a certain period.

He said that the LDC group has already submitted proposals to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on these issues. The international community should consider those proposals very seriously, especially in the context of the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Sheikh Hasina said, we need to redouble our efforts to achieve the goals we have set in the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and the Doha Program of Action. This requires concerted efforts at national, regional and global levels.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Burundi’s President Evariste Nodeshimi were the co-chairs of this high-level thematic round table meeting of the Fifth Conference of the United Nations Least Developed Countries.

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Governments and heads of state of different countries, high-level representatives, observers, representatives of various organizations including the United Nations participated in the program.