Nepal to refine strategy of LDC graduation at Doha meet

 Kathmandu, Feb. 26

Nepal is set to share and refine the draft of the LDC Graduation Strategy at the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) being held in Doha, Qatar from March 5-9 this year. 

The government has been planning to hold a special exhibition and sideline activities jointly with Bangladesh and Laos PDR – the countries that are to be graduated to the ‘developing’ status along with Nepal in 2026. Nepal is graduating from the LDC club after 55 years since it was included in it in 1971. 

The three countries will discuss their LDC graduation strategies, future course and challenges. 

“A joint side event will be organised at the conference which will be jointly chaired by the representatives of three countries. A joint statement will also be issued after it,” said Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Bimala Rai Paudyal, at a press interaction organised at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singha Durbar, on Sunday.

PM's visit cancelled 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has cancelled his Qatar visit citing the election of the president, according to PM’s press coordinator Surya Kiran Sharma. The PM was scheduled to attend the conference leading Nepali delegation. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Narayankaji Shrestha will attend the conference leading Nepali delegation, Sharma informed. 

FM Paudyal said that the conference holds high importance for Nepal as the country is designing its strategy for the post-graduation scenario. 

Any country that wishes to graduate from the LDC to a developing one should fulfill two of the three parameters – per capita income (PCI), human development index (HDI), and economic and environmental vulnerability index (EVI). The UN Committee for Development Policy (CPD) is the body to decide the ‘graduation’ of each LDC. Nepal’s performance in HDI is better than other LDCs while its PCI and EVI are below the LDC average. Nepal has met the graduation criteria in income and human aspects. 

There are growing concerns in the country especially in the private sector about the possible ‘opportunity loss’ in the post-graduation period as Nepal could lose the ‘preference’ to export its good to the developed countries like the USA, Australia and European nations. According to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, the government has been in communication with the European Union and other devel-oped nations to sustain the facilities such as zero customs duty and general system of preference being offered to Nepali products in their countries. 

A facility review

Spokesperson for the MoFA Sewa Lamsal maintained that the LDC summit in Doha would provide a platform to Nepal to review the facilities, challenges and opportunities after the graduation. 

Nepal will participate in three round tables at the conference. Draft speeches for the round tables have been prepared, she said. There will be eight round table discussions during the conference. 

Meanwhile, the 52nd regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council is being organised from February 27 to April 4 in Geneva of Switzerland.

Speaking with the journalists Sunday morning, she said that this is the final year for Nepal as the member of the UNHRC in Geneva so this session holds high importance for the country. 

According to her, Nepal will present the progress the country made in the areas of transitional justice and others, achievements and activities organised. Nepali delegation will participate in general debate and a few bilateral meetings. 

“We have made very good preparations to show our achievements in human rights sector. Nepal is among a few countries that have made a good progress,” said Minister Paudyal while maintaining that the meetings at the session are suitable platforms to present the country’s national commitment and progress. 

Responding to the queries of journalists about the issue raised by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) over the appointment of the commissioners of the NHRC and the threat to downgrade the national human rights watchdog to the ‘B’ status, she said that although the issues was a ‘political and technical’ one, the government was effortful to sustain the current ‘A’ status.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 27 February 2023.