Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said recently that after years of economic and social development, Cambodia is pushing forward on schedule, with the goal of formally graduating from the United Nations' least developed country (LDC) list by the end of 2029. He noted that long-term peace, national solidarity, and a stable political environment have created important conditions for Cambodia to concentrate resources on economic development.
Speaking at the 25th General Assembly of the Veterans Confederation of ASEAN Countries (VECONAC) in Phnom Penh, Hun Manet recalled that Cambodia graduated from a low-income country to a lower-middle-income country in 2015. Before the pandemic, Cambodia's economy had grown by an annual average of more than 7% for over 20 consecutive years.
Cambodia has been on the least developed country list since 1991. The UN Committee for Development Policy previously determined that Cambodia had met the graduation thresholds on indicators including per capita gross national income, human assets, and economic and environmental vulnerability. On December 19, 2024, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 79/230, granting Cambodia a five-year preparatory period before graduation on December 19, 2029.
However, after graduating from the LDC list, Cambodia may also gradually lose some trade preferences, including special treatment such as duty-free and quota-free access. The International Monetary Fund believes Cambodia has a young workforce, attractiveness to foreign investment, and relatively deep ties to global export markets, but will still need to improve enterprise productivity and strengthen domestic supply chains and infrastructure in the future.
Hun Manet stressed that graduating from LDC status is not the finish line, but a new development test. The government will continue to advance reforms in education, healthcare, human resources, and vocational training, and strengthen cooperation with the private sector.
Cambodia's long-term goals are to move into the upper-middle-income country group by 2030 and to become a high-income country by 2050. UN data show that Cambodia and Senegal are scheduled to graduate from the least developed country list together in 2029.