His Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, stressed the need to transform the Doha Work Program into tangible results, and to circumvent this goal as soon as possible, especially since the world is exposed to unexpected changes.
His Excellency stressed in his speech before the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, which started today in Doha, that the Doha Action Program / 2022-2031 / is a practical guide to many issues, as it contains tangible goals and outputs such as the sustainable facility to remove the names of countries from the list of least developed countries, and the Center Supporting investment, and a virtual university that plays an influential role in achieving sustainable development goals in the least developed countries. He called on the United Nations development partners to support the implementation of the outputs and goals of this program.
Guterres explained that this conference was supposed to be held in January of last year, but its sudden cancellation due to the omicron wave of the Corona virus (Covid 19), came to remind us that the world is exposed to unexpected changes, citing the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and its devastating effects on The Ukrainian people and the least developed countries are facing great difficulties due to the boom in food and energy prices, as well as the global tensions and divisions that are deepening and increasing.
He added that the deeply biased global financial system has clearly wronged the least developed countries, as the least developed countries are stuck in a wave of crises and uncertainty, climate chaos and historical global injustice, and they are unable to catch up with the rapid technological changes, and that their systems have reached the point of annihilation either. In health care, education, social protection, infrastructure and job creation, unemployment is rising, especially among young people, and women are marginalized.
And the Secretary-General of the United Nations stated that the least developed countries face interest rates that are 8 times higher than those offered to developed countries, and this matter is only getting worse, and 25 percent of developing economies spend more than 20 percent not on building schools, nor on feeding their people, nor on feeding their people. On expanding the available opportunities between young men and women, but rather to provide and bear the costs of debt, indicating that some of these debts witnessed an increase of more than 35 percent in the proportions of those costs.
He stressed that the least developed countries need a revolution in the support provided for three main areas, first: immediate assistance to save the sustainable development goals because these countries consider these goals an end in themselves, such as poverty eradication, health goals, food, clean water and sanitation, as well as providing an incentive package for development goals. sustainable development in order for the world to gather around it and to provide at least $ 500 billion annually for developing countries.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations continued that the time has come for the developed countries to implement their obligations towards the least developed countries by providing 0.15 to 0.20 percent of their GDP in the form of development aid, and that the United Nations will not accept excuses. He warned of the need to strengthen international efforts to avoid non-payment of taxes and money laundering. And illegal financial flows that drain local resources, and although no country or region is immune from these actions, low-income countries lose a lot of tax revenues on these funds, although they need financing and support to achieve structural transformation and they need to Investing in manufacturing and technological capabilities, infrastructure and transportation networks, giving women a seat at the decision-making table, the business sector and civil life, and investing in education and training to produce a qualified workforce that strengthens their institutions. HE Mr. Guterres added that the second main area in which the least developed countries need support is the reform of the global financial system. International financial institutions must devise ways to provide financing when the need for it increases, and this includes expanding reserve financing and incorporating conditions on disasters and pandemics into lending instruments and clauses, It is also time to accelerate the reallocation of special drawing rights from the richest countries to the countries that need the most assistance, and to create greater flows of financing from the private sector at a reasonable cost for developing countries, especially the least developed ones, noting the importance of finding new and innovative ways to measure the economies of countries beyond Just a GDPR calculation.
As for the third and final area, it is that the least developed countries must revolutionize climate action because they produce less than 4 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and it is a disaster that 7 out of every 10 deaths due to greenhouse gases occur in these countries, stressing that developed countries must strengthen their support. For the least developed countries and help them adapt and increase their ability to withstand climate change and move more smoothly to renewable energy sources. Developed countries should also fulfill their promises to provide $ 100 billion for developing countries, and simplify access to financing to take the required climate measures, as well as facilitate access to The Compensation Fund for Loss and Damage, strengthening the financing of adaptation efforts to double, striving to achieve higher equality for this fund, and supporting the development of early warning systems in the next five years for all countries of the world.
At the end of his speech, the Secretary-General of the United Nations called for concluding a climate cooperation agreement, providing financial and technical support to ensure the transition of emerging economies to renewable energy sources, and maintaining the goal of keeping the planet’s temperature rise below 1.5 degrees. It is time to end the era of "empty promises" Giving and paying sufficient attention to the needs of the least developed countries, which are at the core of our projects, priorities and investments.
