UN General Assembly
2008

Pacific nations. The decision to graduate a country from LDC status, in our view, must imply the recognition of undisputed sustainable socio-economic progress in the country. The criteria the United Nations relies on to arrive at a decision are by and large sound and fair, and I will briefly recall them: first, one expects the country to enjoy a higher income per capita; secondly, the country’s human assets or human capital is expected to have made significant progress; and thirdly, the country ought to have achieved greater resilience to external shocks — in other words, to have become less vulnerable economically. A country is recommended for graduation if it meets any two of those three criteria. In other words, the graduation rule implicitly postulates that all three criteria are equally important. If a country, no matter how vulnerable, has risen to a level of per capita income above $900, which is not difficult in a small State, and enjoys improved human capital, it is assumed that that country has become structurally stronger and is now ready to pursue its development