As they battle to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets by 2030, the world leaders gathered in Doha to share their respective nations’ developmental initiatives and to generate political will, solidarity, action, and solutions to transform the LDCs. These solutions would address issues such as poverty, food insecurity, hunger, a lack of or inadequate infrastructure, inadequate health facilities, and climate change.
In Doha, the capital of Qatar, from March 5 to March 9, 2023, the conference on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) was held under the subject “From Potential to Prosperity.” World leaders, representatives from business, civic society, and youth organizations all attended the summit.
The conference, which takes place once every ten years, offers a chance to enlist the assistance of the international community in advancing sustainable development in LDCs and helping them move closer to achieving prosperity.
The 5th UN conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) was officially opened on Sunday, March 5 in Doha by the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
In his inaugural remarks, the emir underlined the shared global duty in facing the challenges of food insecurity, climate change, and the energy crisis, saying that “there is a moral responsibility on the affluent and developed nations to support the least developed countries.”
Also, he committed $60 million in aid to enable the Doha work program to help underdeveloped nations.
The meeting was crucial in attempting to catch up with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals for the least developed countries, as well as to secure new commitments to the Doha Work Programme, garner new pledges of support, and reach agreements on those commitments.
There are 46 counties on the list of least developed countries, including 33 African nations. The United Nations’ Committee for Development (CDP) analyzes the list of LDCs every three years and assesses each country’s development in fifteen indicators, which are then classified into three criteria: human assets index/workforce (HAI), economic and environmental vulnerability index (EVI), and gross national income per capita (GNI) (GNI).
The Doha Programme of Action( DPoA ) includes six key focus areas:
- Investing in people in the least developed countries (LDC): eradicating poverty and building capacity to leave no one behind.
- Leveraging the power of science, technology, and innovation to fight against multidimensional vulnerabilities and to achieve the SDGs.
- Supporting structural transformation as a driver of prosperity.
- Enhancing international trade of least developed countries (LDC) and regional integration.
- Addressing climate change, environmental degradation, recovering from COVID-19 pandemic, and building resilience against future shocks for risk-informed sustainable development,
- Mobilizing international solidarity, reinvigorating global partnerships and innovative tools and instruments: a march towards sustainable graduation.
