5 March 2023
THE DOHA PROGRAMME OF ACTION (DPOA)
“Three years after the world began to shut down as Covid-19 took hold, the UN and other partners will gather in Doha, Qatar, to deliver a historic new compact to support the countries whose vulnerabilities the pandemic most exposed,” reports the UN News on 3 March 2023.
“Countries with the least need support the most. And you need it now. You represent one in eight people on earth. But your countries are trapped in vicious cycles that make development difficult, if not impossible,” remarked UN Chief Antonio Guterres at the Summit of Heads of State and Government ahead of the Fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Doha, Qatar to be held from 5 to 9 March 2023.
Doha hosts the 5 days Conference of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) from 5 March 2023 that will focus on the needs of the LDCs to the top of the global agenda and to support nearly “1.1 billion people, that’s 14 percent of the world population, and more than 75 percent of those still living in poverty.”
The LDCs are the most affected by Covid-19 and experiencing natural and man-made disasters, communicable diseases, deepening poverty and underdevelopment.
There are 46 LDCs as reported by the United Nations, showing the lowest Indicators of Socio-Economic development, all of them reporting a gross national per capita income (GNI) below USD$1,018.
The Doha Programme of Action (DPoA) will discuss and initiate the implementation of the DPoA, agreed in March 2022 to address the Covid-19 pandemic and ‘enable to get back on track to achieve the SDGs including addressing the climatic change”, says the UN Report.
“For your countries, progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – starting with the eradication of extreme poverty and ending hunger — is about more than lines on a chart leading to 2030. It’s a matter of life and death and it is unacceptable if you are held back by processes and decisions that are made far beyond your borders,” says the UN Chief.
The 46 LDCs in the UN Lists include:
Africa – 33 Countries
(Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia
Asia – 9 Countries
(Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Nepal, Timor-Leste and Yemen)
Pacific – 3 Countries
(Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tuval).
