The United Nations office in Myanmar reported that on January 6 the Government of Myanmar and the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office co-organized a joint meeting to discuss Myanmar’s graduation from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) category.

Least developed countries (LDCs) are defined as “low-income countries confronting severe structural impediments to sustainable development, highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks and with a low levels of human assets.”

Myanmar met the graduation criteria for the first time in 2018 and will again meet them at the triennial review in February 2021. This means that Myanmar will be eligible to be recommended for LDC graduation and could leave the LDC category after a transition period of three to five years.

The decision on a country’s LDC status is taken by the UN’s General Assembly based on a recommendation from the Committee for Development Policy (CDP). The CDP reviews the list of LDCs and makes recommendations for inclusion in and graduation from the category every three years. These recommendations are not exclusively based on the criteria scores, and the views of the government are also taken into account. The graduation thresholds, as determined by the CDP, must be met for any two of the three criteria (Gross National Income per capita, Human Assets Index, Economic Vulnerability Index) in two consecutive triennial reviews.

There are currently 46 countries on the list of LDCs. LDCs have exclusive access to certain international support measures in particular in the areas of development assistance and trade.