On 14th December 2017, the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries organized the Expert Group Meeting on UN Support for Graduation and Smooth Transition for LDCs.
The meeting allowed to take stock of the assistance provided by the United Nations system to support the LDCs in their efforts to achieve the goals contained in the Istanbul Programme of Action and meeting the criteria for graduation.
Patrick Guillaumont, President of FERDI, spoke during the opening session where he presented a state of the LDCs graduation and the elements of a slow path of graduation. Among the recommendations made to accelerate graduation, he stressed the need to strengthen connection between LDCs and Sustainable Development Goals and the need to take into account the vulnerability issue in graduation.