Mr. Connor O’Loughlin, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, appreciated the efforts made by the State of Qatar to make the Fifth United Nations Conference of the Least Developed Countries a success, starting with the slogan "From potential to prosperity"And ending with the offer made by Qatar, which includes a financing package of $60 million to help the least developed countries achieve some of their goals and fulfill some of their obligations.
In an exclusive statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Mr. O’Loughlin confirmed that the conference has been very fruitful since its inception. On the first day alone, $60 million was announced from the host country, Qatar, Germany announced a package worth 200 million euros, and Finland announced a new project with the representative’s office. The High Commission for the least developed countries in a new series of conferences between academics and politicians to make policy makers ensure the integration of research, data and new ideas in development .. As for Canada, it presented a climate project in Burkina Faso worth $ 25 million.
In this context, a spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for the Least Developed Countries said: "We are very grateful for the generosity of the State of Qatar, and what we saw this week showed the extent of Qatar’s commitment to supporting the least developed countries, and harnessing what exists to help and support the least developed countries.".
O’Loughlin explained that the Doha Program Working Document is considered wiser, as it takes into account what happens to LDCs in a moment of real crisis.
added, "We are gathered here in Doha later than we were supposed to, and the only advantage we have is that the Doha Work Program was negotiated in the middle of the Corona pandemic.. This means that the lessons we learned from the pandemic or at least from the experiences of the pandemic have been incorporated into the existing ones Within the framework of this program, so while the Sustainable Development Goals predated the pandemic, it now feels like a completely different world".
continued, "There is a resilience-building mechanism that will help LDCs overcome COVID-19, as they are still struggling through this pandemic, but also help strengthen their defenses against future pandemics and future disasters that are increasingly coming from climate change and other shocks.".
O’Loughlin explained that the first message from this conference is the need to make a real radical change in the conditions of the least developed countries, and to invest more for them, so that when we return to the same conference in ten years, there will be fewer countries in this category, and that the least developed countries have succeeded in Taking greater steps in terms of achieving development.
And he said, "Of the 46 countries within the category of least developed countries, 16 countries are on the way out of this category, and the majority of those are from South Asia, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, and these countries do not suffer from conflicts or do not have a recent history of conflicts"Pointing out that the majority of the remaining countries will be countries that suffer from conflicts or have recently emerged from conflicts, and therefore there is a need to resolve conflicts.
continued, "We have 33 countries left in Africa and Haiti in addition to Afghanistan, and therefore we have a large proportion of the least developed countries that suffer from conflicts".
A spokesman for the Office of the High Commissioner for the Least Developed Countries stressed the need to achieve sustainable development for people living in conflict zones, and women and girls should get the education they need, and safe drinking water should be provided, and investment should be made.
He pointed out that the least developed countries are clearly aware that these are the engines of development, and that the international partnerships and investments that the conference is discussing today have priority, and that these countries need to ensure that they are within the growth, development and investment plan by helping to curb corruption and increase equality. And he added: "The last conference held in Turkey in 2011, in which a lot of commitments were made, and a lot of progress was made, for example, four countries came out of this category in the past decade and many of the goals of the Istanbul Program of Action were integrated into the sustainable development goals and were on track This is correct, and accordingly the Istanbul Action Program has been integrated into the sustainable development agenda, but unfortunately other goals have not been achieved, and our goal now in the Doha Work Program is also to integrate it into the global agenda for sustainable development, and for it to be achieved in a more ambitious and effective manner than before.".
