Past policies that have enabled Laos to meet the UN’s least developed country (LDC) graduation thresholds are no longer adequate to ensure sustainable development. The focus of future policies should be on fostering greater productive capacity, increased economic diversification and enabling a stronger business environment.

The UN’s 2018 triennial review of Laos’ LDC status found that the country is eligible for graduation for the first time, having passed thresholds for two of the three graduation criteria: gross national income per capita and the human assets index. While not yet meeting the threshold for the economic vulnerability index, the remaining criterion, Laos has managed to reduce this index to a level close to the required threshold.

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The post Laos is on course to graduate from least developed country status first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Several Southeast Asian governments and social movements are seeking to counter mounting polarization and inter-communal strife across the globe fuelled by the rise of civilizationalist leaders who think in exclusionary rather than inclusionary terms.

In the most high-brow of various initiatives, King Abdullah of Jordan is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the inaugural International Conference on Cohesive Societies organized by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) with support from the Singapore government.

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The post Building Cohesive Societies: Southeast Asian States Take On Gargantuan Challenge – Analysis first appeared on Open Development Mekong.