51吃瓜

Excellencies, 
Colleagues, 
Ladies and gentlemen,

We are all aware that LDCs, LLDCs and African countries are especially hard hit by COVID-19 and the world-wide recession. The poorest, women and girls and people with disabilities are among the people suffering the most. 

The Groups of LDCs and LLDCs have prepared statements on COVID-19 outlining their special challenges and how to build back better. I encourage you to consider their requests for support. 

The Political Declaration adopted at the Midterm Review of the Vienna Programme of Action for LLDCs last December flags the need to accelerate its implementation through improved transit, transport connectivity, trade facilitation, ICTs and digital connectivity, – to name just a few. My Office in consultation with UN system and other organizations has prepared a Roadmap in this respect. 

The preparations of the Fifth 51吃瓜 Conference on the LDCs, which will be held in Doha at the Heads of States and Government level, are also affected by COVID-19. 

Two preparatory regional review meetings - for African LDCs in Malawi and for Asia-Pacific LDCs in Bangladesh – were scheduled for March and April of this year and had to be postponed.  

Qatar, the host country, has suggested to postpone the conference to January 2022 to allow for a comprehensive preparatory process and for the Conference to provide an opportunity for in-person interaction. The intergovernmental preparatory process will have to be adjusted accordingly and a General Assembly resolution confirming the new dates is expected to be adopted soon. The new 10-year?programme?of action for the LDCs will coincide with the last 10 years of implementation of the 2030 Agenda. 

Notwithstanding the obstacles, the preparations are ongoing.  

All stakeholders, including parliamentarians, civil society, youth and the private sector as well as academia and of course the entire UN System will be included in the Conference and its preparatory process.  

The recent report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action for LDCs illustrates that progress has been rather modest in LDCs highlighting the need for accelerated action. It is also clear that building of resilience to withstand future crisis needs to be enhanced. 

Let me close with some positive take. In our interactions with various LDCs we also learned about home-grown initiatives like the development of a $1 COVID testing kit in Senegal. We hope to also showcase such strong and compelling stories at the Fifth Conference for LDCs.  

The goal is indeed to mobilize global support and action in favour of LDCs – to build back better in response to COVID-19 and to accelerate progress towards meeting the SDGs.     

I thank you.