Doha pulling out all stops for LDC5 meet

Qatar will spare no effort for 5th UN Conference in Doha to be milestone in meeting aspirations of Least Developed Countries: al-Muraikhi

Qatar participated on Monday in the virtual Africa Regional Review meeting on the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) for the least developed countries, which is held in preparation for the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) in Malawi.

Qatar’s delegation to the meeting was chaired by HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi. Addressing the high-level opening session: From Istanbul to Doha — Towards a New Decade of Partnerships for LDCs, HE al-Muraikhi extended sincere thanks to Malawi for hosting the meeting, and expressed pleasure for taking part in such an important meeting.

HE al-Muraikhi noted that he would have hoped to attend this meeting in the friendly Malawi, which belongs to the African continent that has distinguished relations with Qatar, were it not for the restrictions imposed by the current global health crisis, resulted by the coronavirus pandemic, whose negative impacts affected all countries around the world, especially the least developed countries, expressing the hope that the world would overcome this pandemic soon through co-operation and partnership.

He underlined that the current challenges facing the world affirm the necessity of interdependence and integration among all countries of the world.

Based on the firm values and policy of Qatar in terms of co-operation and partnership with the international community, the State has spared no effort in standing with brothers and partners, especially in the humanitarian and development field.

In line with the State’s commitments to support the issues of developing and least developed countries, Qatar carried out its desired role in various areas that serve these countries, gave priority to their issues, and was keen on hosting important United Nations conferences in this regard, which had achieved the desired results, such as the Second South Summit in 2005, the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus in 2008, the Thirteenth Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in 2012, and the eighteenth session of the Conference of Parties (COP18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2012, HE the Minister said.

He explained that based on Qatar’s awareness of the importance of supporting countries suffering from the negative effects of climate change, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani announced, during the Climate Action Summit in September 2019, the contribution of Qatar of $100mn to support the least developed countries and small island developing states to deal with climate change. He added that Qatar has continued its efforts, within the framework of international multilateral action, to support all initiatives aimed at finding solutions to the crises and challenges that have burdened many developing countries and the least developed, and cast negative effects on peace and stability in the world.

HE the Minister stated that despite the difficult challenges that the world is going through due to the Covid-19 outbreak, Qatar is confident that the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, which Qatar will host between Jan 2327, 2022, will provide an exceptional opportunity to not only addressing these challenges but to laying down targeted measures for recovery and building the capacities of least developed countries to face such challenges in the future.

He expressed Qatar’s happiness to make all efforts in this conference and to be a major partner in the efforts made to respond to the needs and priorities of the least developed countries, expressing confidence that this conference will contribute to meeting their needs and support their march towards achieving development for the next 10 years, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, enabling these countries to emerge from the list of least developed countries.

HE al-Muraikhi added that within the framework of this meeting from Istanbul to Doha, Qatar is looking forward to building the next Doha conference on the experiences gained and the successes achieved in previous conferences, the most recent of which is the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries hosted by Turkey, its distinguished efforts that contributed to the successful outcomes of the conference represented in the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for 2011-2020.

He looked forward to the Doha Programme of Action for the next decade to complete the achievement of the goals that are still in the process, and to be a starting point and a roadmap, as the first programme of action that will address and give priority to addressing the Covid-19 repercussions on the least developed countries, in addition to bringing the desired change in the life of millions of people living in the least developed countries to ensure the desired development gains and the transformative change.

He hoped to co-operate with all partners to make the Doha conference a success, affirming that Qatar will spare no effort for the Fifth United Nations Conference in Doha to be a milestone in responding to the aspirations of the least developed countries to achieve comprehensive development in them and to benefit from the tremendous energy of human and natural resources of the least developed countries for growth and prosperity. He looked forward to welcoming all the participants to Doha in 2022.