President Lazarus Chakwera has emphasised the need to own Doha Programme of Action with a call for more support from development partner Countries, multilateral development banks and private sector towards increasing the productive capacity of Least Development Countries to accelerate their progress towards graduation.
The President made the remarks on Thursday, during the closing ceremony of the fifth UN LDCs conference in Doha Qatar which opened on 5th March under the theme ‘from potential to prosperity’
Chakwera explained that for LDCs to graduate into middle income category there is need to double efforts and more action to be done by financial institutions to ease access to resources by LDCs for the implementation of the programme.
“It’s a collective effort and we need a new approach, therefore the civil society and the media should take part to champion the interests and priorities of LDCs in their coverage and to hold duty bearers accountable for the pledges they made here and in the past,” explained Chakwera.
The President noted that the global economy is a one ship sailing on turbulent waters saying though every nation’s economy is a separate cabin on that ship there is no economy that is independent of the others.
“LDCs are the cabins on the ship that have been most severely damaged by icebergs and that the ship has been hit by the impacts of climate change and the Covid 19 pandemic,” said Chakwera.
The president said he is looking forward to a day when there will be no more LDC’s summits and shared aspiration to graduate all of 46 Countries to middle income status.
He further said that his vision is to see Doha Programme of Action become the Doha celebration of achievement saying it will be a moment of great pride for all LDCs Countries.
He called for UN bodies to double their efforts with financial support saying the Ship requires all hands for the purpose of saving the LDCs as well as the global economy as a whole.
Speaking earlier, the Deputy United Nation Secretary General Amina Mohammed pointed out that the five key deliverables need to respond to challenges currently faced by Least Developed Countries.
Mohammed said to achieve this, the LDCs needs a strong muscle from financial institutions to fully support the Doha Programme of Action.
Reported by Lisa Kadango Malango in Doha, Qatar
