*Qatar reiterates support for Least Developed Countries
Qatar has pledged $62.780mn in voluntary contributions to core resources of a number of United Nations (UN) agencies, departments and programmes in 2020, emphasising that the country attaches the utmost importance to strengthening its partnership with the UN system in order to meet common global challenges.
This came in a statement made by HE the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations, ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani at the United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities held at the UN headquarters in New York.
HE Sheikha Alya explained that contributions to core resources would be distributed among several UN offices. She said $15mn would be allocated to the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, $10mn to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), $8mn to UNRWA, $8mn to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and $5mn will go to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Other contributions will include $4mn to Unicef, $1mn to the UN Office High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and $1mn to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), $1mn to the UN Trust Fund for Resident Co-ordinator system, $5mn to Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and $5mn to the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth.
Other voluntary contributions would amount to $5mn for the digitization of United Nations documents, as well as $250,000 to support the organisation of the International Symposium on Youth Participation in Mediation Processes in December 2020 to be held in Doha to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Youth Peace and Security Agenda and $30,000 would be allocated to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Combat Contemporary Forms HE Sheikha Alya stressed that Qatar seeks to improve the ability of the UN to respond quickly and in a consistent manner to the millions of people in need in different parts of the world.
She reiterated Qatar's keenness to support efforts to strengthen the UN's development system to improve its capacity and efficiency to better serve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
She pointed to Qatar's announcement in 2018 to provide the UN support on its core resources totaling $500mn, noting that the country is one of the largest partners supporting the UN in various fields.
Meanwhile, delivering a statement at a meeting on the development of LDCs and to follow up the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) for the decade 2011-2020, Sheikha Alya reiterated Qatar's commitment to supporting development efforts for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and assisting them in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
She expressed Qatar's offer to host the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in March 2021, stressing that this reflects the country's commitment to ensure prosperity for all .
The conference also reflects a sense of solidarity to ensure the economic, sustainable and inclusive growth of LDCs, which would have positive repercussions on the global economic landscape, she added.
She pointed out that as part of its efforts to make the fifth conference a success, Qatar contributed $500,000 to the trust fund for the conference and its preparatory process.
HE Sheikha Alya hailed His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani's announcement at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in September that Qatar will contribute $100mn for the support of small developing island states and the least developed states to deal with the dire consequences of climate change.
