The State of Qatar participated today in the ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends of the Least Developed Countries, held on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
HE Minister of State for International Cooperation Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater represented the State of Qatar at the meeting.
The meeting dealt with the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action and its main projects to accelerate the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.
In her address to the meeting, Her Excellency said that the least developed countries face interconnected structural, economic, and environmental challenges that limit their ability to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. These challenges have negative impacts on individuals and communities and restrict their ability to enhance capacities to confront them.
Her Excellency pointed out that the international community has given deserved attention to the least developed countries in the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the Conferences of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement, and other related United Nations conferences and documents, as well as in the Pact for the Future adopted earlier this week. Her Excellency added that these countries are looking forward to fulfilling commitments related to official development assistance, debt relief, financing for development, facilitating international trade and regional integration, technology transfer, capacity building, financing adaptation and mitigation measures for climate change, and dealing with shocks, among others.
Her Excellency expressed the State of Qatar’s pride in hosting the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in March 2023, noting in this context the pledge of HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to allocate $60 million to implement the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 2022-2031.
She also highlighted the State of Qatar’s agreement with the United Nations, represented by its High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States, to fund projects in the least developed countries to support food security and strengthen their resilience in the face of crises.
Her Excellency stressed the importance of multilateral international efforts to confront global challenges. In this regard, she pointed out that the State of Qatar has strengthened its partnerships with various United Nations organizations and specialized agencies by contributing to their core resources to enable them to support the efforts of developing countries, particularly the least developed ones, in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Her Excellency also noted that the State of Qatar is a major investor in the project for the Sustainable Development Goals Acceleration Labs Network, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme. Addit
ionally, she mentioned that HH the Amir had allocated $100 million during his participation in the Climate Action Summit at the United Nations in 2019 to support sustainable agriculture, irrigation, food security, and crisis response in the Caribbean, the Pacific region, and some African countries.
Her Excellency further mentioned that many countries within the group of least developed countries face developmental challenges, natural disasters, and humanitarian emergencies beyond their capacity. She noted that the State of Qatar has been supporting the core resources of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to enable it to provide the necessary assistance to the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories, who are living under inhumane conditions due to the brutal Israeli military aggression on Gaza.
She added that the State of Qatar has provided humanitarian aid, such as food, medicine, shelter materials, and medical supplies, to the besie
ged Palestinian people in Gaza and several least developed countries that have faced natural disasters or have been affected by wars and armed conflicts.
Source: Qatar News Agency
