LCG WG – TRADE&PSD
About Us
The LCG Trade & Private Sector Development Working Group provides a common platform for GOB and DPs to meet periodically and discuss development issues and other sectoral strategies and policies of the Trade & Private Sector. It provides a forum for information exchange, coordination and collaboration among GoB, DPs and civil society in the area of Trade & Private Sector Development.
Objective
Our Objective
The objective of the Trade & Private Sector Development Working Group is to contribute towards effective and coordinated implementation of national policies, strategies, plans and programs in the Private Sector.
Michael Trueblood
Profile of the Co- Chair
Michael Trueblood is the USAID Senior Economist in the USAID Program Office. He leads private sector engagement efforts and follows macroeconomic issues for USAID and co-leads the LCG donor working group on Trade and Private Sector.
Michael joined USAID in 2009 and has worked for the U.S. Government for 32 years. Prior to joining the USAID/Bangladesh Mission, he served as the Deputy Director for Economic Growth in USAID/Egypt where he helped oversee an economic portfolio valued at $308 million. Prior to joining USAID/Egypt, Michael was the Office Director in Vietnam and Central Asian Republics and held other economic positions in Pakistan and D.R. Congo. Michael spent much of his career at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service where he worked on policy issues and published economic research on global food security issues, trade in developing countries, and transition challenges for Russian and Ukrainian agriculture.
Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business from Westmont College and a Ph.D. degree in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota.
What We Do
Scope of Work
- Sharing of information on activities, projects and studies undertaken by different agencies to address the trade related challenges of LDC graduation of Bangladesh.
- Identifying avenues for collaborative work to promote productive capacity and product sophistication targeting the Bangladeshi private sector.
- Developing modalities for working effectively together to facilitate a soft landing and minimizing the impacts of loss of preferential market access and exemptions after graduation.
- Strengthening the capacities of the private sectors to meet the post-graduation era.
- Integrating key cross-cutting trade related issues in work/ activities to address the challenges and prospects of Bangladesh’s LDC graduation through inter-ministerial coordination and PSE (Private Sector Engagement), Harmonization and alignment of activities on trade matters as per directions given by the national committee on LDC graduation.
- Sharing International best practices (including lessons learnt from the successes of our key competitors in trade) and customizing them.
- Strengthening the government institutions.
- Undertaking studies and commissioning projects to case doing business in Bangladesh for both local and international businesses.
- Teaming up with the development partners for making new technology commercially viable for Bangladeshi enterprises.
- Starting work to establish a research center, connecting research with practice and policy, to addresses trade related challenges of LDC graduation.