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This was the second mission of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on LDC Graduation (IATF) and was led by UN-OHRLLS, DESA, ESCAP and UNDP in close cooperation with the Government of Solomon Islands, the UN Resident Coordinator and the Country Team in Honiara. The UNCDF, OECD, Asian Development Bank and PIF Secretariat also participated in the mission.

Established in late 2017, the IATF on LDC Graduation is chaired by the Director of OHRLLS, Ms. Heidi Schroderus-Fox. It is a group of UN entities, which convene twice a year or more often as needed, with the goal to provide strengthened and coordinated UN system-wide support to the countries graduating from the LDC category.

The Joint UN Workshop in support of the graduation of Solomon Islands from the category of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) was held at the Heritage Park Hotel in Honiara on 17 and 18 October 2019. During the 2-day workshop, the IATF team provided a clear description of the impacts that graduation from the LDC category would have for the country. Several senior government representatives participated as panelists and engaged in the interactive discussions on the impacts of graduation on the economic and social progress of the country. Representatives from 18 UN and international and regional organizations attended and contributed. Over 50 participants attended, with majority coming from government ministries, as well as civil society and private sector.

The IATF chair commended the government for the specific actions that had already been undertaken in various areas in preparation of graduation. She noted that the workshop was only a starting point to launch a period of collective reflection about the future. The UN team would be ready to continue strengthening, in a better coordinated and effective manner, the kind of assistance the Government needed in turning its vision into reality. She highlighted some key elements that should inform the joint way forward. A first step was to establish a “consultative mechanism” to set up a concrete plan towards and beyond graduation, to bring together the main development and trading partners, facilitate the preparation of the transition strategy and integrate the strategy with the national development strategy and the UN Pacific Strategy.

The workshop was preceded, on 16 October 2019, by a meeting of the IATF and the Solomon Islands Government with civil society representatives to give them an opportunity for an interactive dialogue on the process of LDC graduation and its implications for the economy and people of the Solomon Islands. In the morning of 17 October 2019, the IATF and the Solomon Islands Government organized a breakfast with private sector representative.