The Foreign Minister Lyonpo Tandin Dorji announced that resolution for Bhutan’s graduation was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly and so Bhutan has officially entered into the preparatory period of five years which will effectively conclude on 13 December 2023.
Lyonchhen said that Bhutan’s transition to become a lower middle income country from a LDC is a great achievement that worth celebrating as it started from time of the First King and was the vision from the 1960’s when planed development started in Bhutan.
The PM cautioned that of the three criteria Bhutan did not meet the Economic Vulnerability criteria earlier and he said that Bhutan has to be careful as it would have act like a rich person without anything in the bank account. He said Bhutan would have to learn how to manage with its resources and live within its means.
Lyonchhen said that with graduation looming and World Food Program phasing out, it should remain engaged with Bhutan to move from quantitative feeding to qualitative feeding.
The seventy – third session of the United Nations General Assembly on 13 December 2018 had considered the report of the Economic and Social Council on graduation of Bhutan from the least developed countries (LDC) category at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
A release said that Assembly took note of the endorsement by the Economic and Social Council of the recommendations of the Committee for Development Policy that Bhutan be graduated from the LDC category and that the Committee found reasonable the request made by Bhutan to align its effective graduation date with end of the 12th Five Year Plan in 2023.
The Assembly also invited Bhutan to prepare, during the five-year period between the adoption of the resolution and its graduation from the LDC category, its national smooth-transition strategy, with the support of the United Nations system and in cooperation with its bilateral, regional and multilateral development and trading partners.
Bhutan has been categorized as a LDC since establishment of this categorization by the United Nations General Assembly in 1971.
Bhutan was first found eligible for graduation from the LDC category during the Triennial Review in 2015.
During the triennial review of the list of LDCs undertaken in March 2018, the CDP decided to recommend to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) the graduation of Bhutan from LDC category.
Bhutan’s 12th Five Year Plan will be the last plan as a LDC and shall address the last mile challenges in all sectors and ensure that Bhutan graduates on ensure footing with a strong economy.