Arab League's Assistant Secretary-General and head of social affairs sector ambassador Dr Haifa Abu Ghazaleh praised the achievements made by Qatar at the national level in the fields of social development and the family. In her speech during the work of the 42nd Meeting of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs, Dr Ghazaleh indicated that Qatar has witnessed a quantum leap in the areas of social development and the family, under the umbrella of the ministry concerned in this regard.
She stressed the importance of the files and issues discussed by the meeting of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs in Doha, chaired by Qatar, praising the efforts made in preparing and arranging this meeting.
Dr Ghazaleh explained that the work of this session included topics that represent a priority for joint Arab social development action, foremost among them are the preparation for the upcoming Arab Summit in Saudi Arabia, the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit in Mauritania, and the preparation for the Council's participation in a number of international forums, especially the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit. She also pointed out that the convening of this meeting comes after the end of the distinguished high-level event of the esteemed Council on Persons with Disabilities and Multidimensional Poverty and the Continuation of the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Beyond, which was held in Doha.
Dr Ghazaleh affirmed that this event represents an important quantum leap in the work of the Council and within the framework of the Arab-international partnership and with regional organizations, calling for the implementation of its results in a way that achieves the desired goals, and enables the inclusion of the proposed Arab priorities after 2030. She drew attention to the growing Arab and international interest in social and development issues, especially after the world went through the Covid-19 pandemic, which changed priorities to focus more on people and their daily life in all its political, economic and social dimensions, adding that the work of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs focuses on these issues and it has been formulated in the draft agenda of the Council for the years 2023-2027, especially with regard to issues related to multidimensional poverty, persons with disabilities and the elderly.
The opening session of the meeting witnessed interventions by a number of the Arab Ministers of Social Affairs, as they reviewed the achievements of the Arab countries in terms of realizing social development, especially those related to confronting poverty and promoting the rights of persons with disabilities, in addition to addressing the most prominent challenges facing development after Covid-19, and in light of the regional and global political and economic crises.
The speeches of the ministers also stressed the importance of strengthening joint Arab action in the social fields of concern, especially with regard to supporting weak and fragile groups, confronting poverty, empowering women, and others. In their remarks, they congratulated Qatar on its great success in organising the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, its accompanying global humanitarian messages, and the opportunities it provided for persons with disabilities to enjoy the activities of the tournament at an unprecedented level in the history of the World Cup.
