Qatar reaffirmed its commitment to continuing efforts to enhance the South-South co-operation, especially within the framework of the real opportunities it generates to support the endeavours of the countries of the South to achieve social and economic recovery, and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
This came in a speech delivered by HE Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani during the general discussion of the 21st session of the High-level Committee on South-South Co-operation, which was held at the UN headquarters in New York.
HE Sheikha Alya praised the appreciated efforts of the UN Office for South-South Co-operation (UNOSSC) and the UN Development Program (UNDP) in supporting initiatives and activities aimed at strengthening co-operation among the countries of the South, stressing that the South-South co-operation has always been an important and vital issue for Qatar.
In this regard, she highlighted that Qatar chaired the high-level committee concerned with South-South co-operation in 2007, affirming its keenness to be a platform to enhance the horizons of this co-operation and address common challenges, and translate that in many tangible steps.
She drew attention to Qatar's hosting of the second South Summit in 2005, which resulted in the Doha Action Plan, noting that Qatar looks forward to the third South Summit to be hosted by Uganda, as an impetus to stimulate actions that are in the interest of the countries of the South.
She expressed Qatar's pride in hosting the Fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries, which was a pivotal event to support the efforts of many countries of the South and help the least developed countries to build more prosperous and resilient societies and economies.
Moreover, Qatar co-organized the Ministerial Meeting on South-South Co-operation on the sidelines of the conference, which constituted an important station for renewing partnerships for workable solutions to support the implementation of the Doha Program of Action for the LDCs, she added. HE Sheikha Alya reaffirmed Qatar's keenness to continue providing aid, in line with its belief that the various challenges facing the countries of the South make co-operation and solidarity among them extremely important.
In 2021, Qatar contributed more than $551mn to development projects and humanitarian aid, and it did not hesitate to support international efforts to mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic, she said, highlighting that Qatar provided QR27,573,385,901 in aid to the countries of the South during the period from 2014-2021, which included governmental and non-governmental assistance for development and humanitarian issues.
This assistance supported efforts to implement several sustainable development goals, including eradicating poverty, building sustainable cities and communities, creating decent work, promoting economic growth, education, health, and more.
Within the framework of the innovative initiatives supported by Qatar, she highlighted the notes included in the report of the UNDP director on the renewal of the partnership between the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) and the UNDP for the period 2022-2025, and Qatar's commitment to provide an additional $10mn to support innovative work being carried out by 91 UNDP Accelerator Labs in more than 100 countries in the Global South, bringing the total support for the Lab network to $30mn.
