缅北禁地

His Excellency Mr. Narayan Prakash Saud, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nepal and Chair of the Global Coordination Bureau of the Least Developed Countries

Her Excellency Ms. Paula Narvaez, President of the ECOSOC 

His Excellency Mr. Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, Minister of State of Qatar and the host of the LDC5

Honorable Ministers from LDCs and the Friends of LDCs

Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,

At the outset, I wish to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to you, Mr. Chair, for your excellent leadership of the Group of LDCs, especially navigating this Group through the initial implementation phase of the Doha Programme of Action. 

I take this opportunity to convey my deep appreciation and sincere thanks to His Excellency Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Qatar for hosting the landmark Fifth 缅北禁地Conference on the LDCs, and for his government’s continued support to take forward the transformative agenda of the DPOA.  We are grateful to His Highness, the Amir for reiterating that in his statement at the General Assembly earlier this week. 

I thank the President of the General Assembly for his commitment to place the issues of the world’s most vulnerable countries high on the agenda of the 78th UNGA. This is clearly demonstrated by his announcement to relaunch the high-level advisory group for the LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS.  We need to make the best use of this platform to further reinforce the priorities of LDCs in the UN’s agenda. 

I am very pleased to see high-level participation from LDCs and Friends of LDCs in the meeting. This is a testimony to the international community’s support and solidary for those who need it most.  

Excellencies,

At the outset, I would like to present the status of the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action. 

As the systemwide focal point for the follow-up and monitoring of the implementation of the DPOA, the most important mission of my Office is to translate its ambitions into reality.

We have adopted a five-pronged strategic approach to support its implementation. 

First, the success of this Programme of Action is contingent upon its integration in the strategic plans of LDCs, development partners and the 缅北禁地Development System as a whole.

We organized a capacity-building workshop for the national focal points of all LDCs in New York in July to discuss the way forward for integrating the DPOA into their national development strategies. 

My Office is working closely with the LDC Chair who has already written to heads of the governing bodies and principals of all relevant agencies and will table specific proposals in all relevant boards. 

As the coordinator of the IACG for LDCs, we have stepped up our engagements with 缅北禁地system entities to scale up their support for the LDCs. 

In June, I convened the 缅北禁地system to follow-up on the commitments they made in support of the LDCs at the Secretary-General's high-level event for 缅北禁地principals in Doha. The report of that meeting is available on our website.

I am also using all possible opportunities to enhance our engagements with development partners.  

Second: regular analytical reporting on the implementation of the DPOA is vital.  The latest report from the Secretary General on the implementation of the DPOA for 2023 has been issued and articulates the grim reality on the ground in these countries. Let me share a few of these findings: 

?    LDCs contribute to less than 1% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, yet they bear the heaviest brunt of the climate crisis.
?    They represent more than half of the world’s extreme poor - an estimated 377 million people.
?    More than one third of all food insecure people live in LDCs -roughly 277 million people.
?    22% of primary-school-age children are out of school in the LDCs, more than double the world average. 
?    Only about 36 per cent of people in the LDCs are using mobile broadband. 
?    FDI to LDCs decreased by 14% in 2022. 
?    More than half of the LDCs are either in debt distress or are at serious risk of debt default.

It is clear the LDCs are far off-track in achieving the SDGs. We must double our efforts on all fronts to not just get them back on a sustainable course but allow them to prosper. 

Third: We have undertaken substantive, analytical work to support intergovernmental processes to make informed decisions on LDCs. For example: 

?    We have done analytical work on the complementarity of the DPOA and the 2030, as well as on the DPOA’s 5 key deliverables.  The 2 brochures in your folder include a synopsis of that work.  

?    We have developed a ‘Guide to LDC Graduation (2022)’. This publication provides a succinct, but comprehensive overview of the graduation process for LDCs, including graduation criteria and steps. 

?    We have published a report on empowering women from LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS in deep-sea research. 

?    We also published a targeted report on ‘Improving Access to Finance for the LDCs’. This report identifies primary challenges of the LDCs’ access to finance and provides seven key recommendations to overcome those.

?    We have issued a policy brief on Advancing SDG7 to promote sustainable energy in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS. 

Fourth:  We have taken a strategic approach to implement the five key deliverables of the DPOA.  Let me briefly go over them. 

Food Stockholding 
We are closely engaged with the FAO and other key partners to bring to fruition a food stockholding mechanism for the LDCs. The 缅北禁地Secretary-General specifically asked for the operationalization of a Food Stockholding System for LDCs in his Call for Action at the 缅北禁地Food Systems Stocktaking Moment in Rome in July. We have already prepared a report on this initiative, which I will present at the Second Committee on Thursday, 13 October.

Online University:
My Office is working with all relevant partners to prepare the Secretary-General’s report on an ‘Online University for LDCs’, outlining, inter alia, the mapping of existing initiatives, possible new modalities, resource requirements, accreditation, and sustainable funding sources, to be considered by the current session of the General Assembly.

International investment support Centre 
My Office is drafting a feasibility study to devise a proposal on how to establish the Investment Support Center for LDCs, in collaboration with key partners in the 缅北禁地system and beyond. Consultations with investment promotion agencies and global investors will be held to complement our gap analysis. 

Sustainable Graduation Support Facility - iGRAD
I am pleased to report the Sustainable Graduation Support Facility, which was created under the Inter-Agency Task Force on LDCs graduation chaired by my Office, has started pilot projects. Demand for its services to better prepare LDCs for graduation is increasing, but additional resources are needed. 

Resilience Building Mechanism for LDCs
My Office has taken a three-pronged approach to support the Resilience Building Mechanism for LDCs. This consists of support to prepare national adaptation plans, including related adaptation policies, programmes, and projects; technical assistance for financial risk management, especially related to disasters; and support for early warning systems to complement the work under the Secretary-General’s Early Warnings for All Initiative. As a means of operationalizing this deliverable, the Secretary-General will issue a report on a multi-hazard early warning system in the LDCs. 

[You will have in your folders brief description of each of these deliverables]

Fifth: We are using all available tools and platforms to generate more momentum, raise awareness and mobilize as many resources as possible for LDCs. 

We are organizing several meetings and side events to facilitate focused discussions and build consensus on key priority areas of the DPOA.

We have also prepared detailed project documents to mobilize resources for the implementation of the DPOA, including its deliverables. 

Finally, we are working on a roadmap for the accelerated implementation of the DPOA, which will cover its first five years. It is designed to be a living document.  

Excellencies, 

We have an opportunity to turn the Doha pledges and commitments into concrete actions. 

We have an opportunity to transform potential into prosperity.

The LDCs have – by far – the most untapped potentials in the world. 

If we can harness this potential by removing the barriers that stand in their way – from access to finance, education, and food, to trade barriers, and other, structural constraints – the LDCs will chart a prosperous future for themselves.  

Our collective success in this endeavour depends on national ownership, as well as the localization and mainstreaming of the DPOA with national development strategies.  We also need strong multi-stakeholder support from development partners, IFIs, MDBs, civil society and the private sector.  

In Doha, we created the necessary momentum for such multi-stakeholder partnership —now is the time to deliver.  

Let us make the most of this moment. 

I look forward to working with all of you further to deliver meaningful change for the LDCs. 

In all these efforts, you can rest assured of my full support. 

I thank you.