By Nkem Chidi
The need to pay greater attention to Least Developed Countries of the world have been emphasized by the Secretary General of United Towns Agency for North South Cooperation (UTA), Eya Essif. UTA is a United Nations accredited Non-Governmental Organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland and Special Consultant in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), United Nations.
Dr. Essif made the remark in her paper, titled, “towards greater commitment to a responsible global partnership to achieve economic recovery and recognition of the principle of ensuring that no one is left behind”, at the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries held recently in Doha, Qatar.
According to Essif who is also an International Counsellor and leader of the Arab Women’s Media Network, “the challenges and structural constraints facing these countries are still exacerbating, which makes them almost unable to withstand and rise to the level of sustainable economic recovery, especially after the severe global recession caused by the corona pandemic, in parallel with the inability of these countries to confront the burdens of external debts, which have increased significantly, followed by obligations related to debt services that shackled them and made them fragile countries in the face of shock economic situation”.
The UTA Secretary General further stated in her presentation that removing countries from the list of least developed countries depends on taking a series of new measures and renewed and strengthened commitments on the part of these countries and their development partners, as they are required, in a first stage, to define their national priorities according to new standards based mainly on evaluating the effectiveness of implementing policies and strategies according to the components of each country separately, and reviewing partnership mechanisms with global support institutions and regional development banks within the limits of their relevant mandates and international commitments.
Essif also stressed that concerted international efforts based on the principle of the spirit of solidarity between the relevant government institutions, the private sector, the international community, United Nations structures, support funds and academic circles are sufficient to achieve structural transformation if the basic elements based on the development of human capabilities are available to enable them to develop capabilities. Productivity in the sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, cultural and creative industries, and the service sector, including tourism, in parallel with the construction and maintenance of goods, sustainable and resilient infrastructure with the aim of improving the movement of goods and services, followed by expanding access to energy and the possibility of communication using Digital scale, harnessing innovative emerging technologies and combating all kinds of discrimination.
In conclusion, the UTA Secretary-General called on the Chief Executives Board, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, as well as the high-level political forum on sustainable development, to allocate sufficient time to move from the phase of discussing the challenges related to sustainable development facing the least countries growing to the stage of activating the decisions of the Doha Work Program and implementing the strategic plans that governments are committed to, taking into account the coordination mechanisms available for follow-up and monitoring at the national, regional and global levels.
