Recommendation by UN Committee to upgrade Nepal from LDC category

KATHMANDU: The United Nations Committee for Development Policy (CDP) has recommended for Nepal’s upgrade from the category of Least Developed Countries. The CDP made this recommendation after Nepal met the graduation criteria for three consecutive years. 

The review is by the CDP every three years, and was done from February 22 to 26 this year. Nepal has met the threshold for two indices, Human Assets Index (HAI) and Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI) among a total of three, making it eligible for this upgrade. The three indices are Human Assets Index (HAI), Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI) and GNI per capita. Nepal had met these criteria in 2015 but the upgrade had been deferred due to the impacts of the earthquake and other disasters. The preparatory period for this upgrade is three years, which has been extended to five years due to the impacts of COVID-19. Thus, this upgrade will be effective from 2026. 

This is an important milestone in the nation’s ambition of “Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali”. This needs to be endorsed by the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and noted by the UN General Assembly later this year. Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradip Gyawali said that the recommendation has given great confidence in the resolution to make Nepal a developing and middle-income country by 2030.