LDC 50th Anniversary Commemoration

50 Years of LDCs: Now a New Generation of Partnerships for Progress

The Fiftieth Anniversary Commemoration of the Least Developed Country category will be held on the opening morning of the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5), immediately after the high-level opening. This will be a key moment to set the tone and ambition for the entire proceedings.

The commemoration event is being organized in pursuance of UN General Assembly resolution 74/232, which invited Qatar to host a segment during LDC5 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Group of Least Developed Countries and encourages Member States to participate.

The category of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) was established in 1971 by the UN General Assembly with a view to attracting special international support for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of the UN family. Since then, the international community has set concrete and quantifiable support measures for LDCs in the field of Official Development Assistance (ODA), trade, climate change, technology transfer and related fields.

The global development landscape has changed in those fifty years. Ongoing crises such as COVID- 19, climate change and conflict threaten to roll back many years of hard-won progress in LDCs.

This confluence of factors provides an opportunity and highlights the necessity-for the international community to review the long development experience of the LDCs and catalyse a renewed trajectory. This commemoration event is an opportunity to do just that and ensure LDC5 is established as a major moment of delivery for the most vulnerable group of countries.

Documents

Concept Note and Programme

Scenario

Statements

• Opening remarks by H.E. Mr. Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar [Arabic]
• Welcome address by Ms. Rabab Fatima, Under Secretary-General and High Representative and Secretary-General of the Fifth UN Conference on LDCs
• Statement by H.E. Ms Mariam Chabi Talata Zime Yerima, VicePresident of Benin (former LDC chair): Structural transformation and resilience building at the heart of LDCs’ progress [French]
• Keynote Speech by H H.E. Mr. Narayan Kaji Shrestha Prakash, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation of Nepal (former and incoming LDC chair): A vision for the future of the LDCs
• Special Address by H.E. Ms. Nataša Pirc Musar, President of the Republic of Slovenia: Addressing challenges and harnessing potentials through partnerships for sustainable development of LDCs
• Statement by H.E. Ms Buthaina bint Ali Al Jabr Al Nuaimi, Minister of Education of Qatar: Education at the heart of LDCs’ progress [Arabic]
• Statement by H.E. Mr Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development, Canada: A New Generation of Global Partnerships for LDCs