LDSCs continue to suffer in lack of meaningful collaboration: DPM Shrestha

Kathmandu, Mar. 4

Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport has said that the Least Development Countries (LDCs) continue to suffer from perpetuity of poverty and underdevelopment due to lack of sufficient and impactful support measures and meaningful collaboration to implement the programmes of action.

Addressing the summit of the LDCs in Doha on Saturday, DPM Shrestha said that even after implementation of four dedicated Programmes of Action since 1981, support measures had proven insufficient and the LDCs still constituted about one fourth of the United Nations membership as we arrive in 2023. At the summit, he had highlighted Nepal's policies and priorities, as well as compounding challenges of various kinds being faced by the LDCs.

Stating that Nepal was committed to achieving net-zero emission by 2045, he said that the country was implementing a transition strategy for smooth and irreversible graduation and committed to exerting all-out efforts for effective implementation of DPOA and Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development to ensure that the graduation process would be smooth and sustainable.

He stressed on the LDCs need to transform the structures of their economies, with stronger industrial capacity, better productivity, and an expanded export base. For decades, LDCs’ GDP and share of export in world trade had stayed around one per cent, whereas they represented 14% of the global population, he added.

DPM Shrestha also mentioned that the LDCs were in need of huge investments in green and resilient industries, education, health, science and technologies, and agriculture. They also needed quality, sustainable, and resilient infrastructures for energy, transportation, and digital connectivity.

He urged the development partners to fully meet their official development assistance commitments along with concrete debt relief measures to overcome the challenges of rising debt and inflation. He also called on development partners for concrete and substantial support in a spirit of shared responsibility and mutual accountability for the effective implementation of DPOA. The Doha Programme of Action was a blueprint of renewed and strengthened global partnership based on the principle of leaving no one behind, he added.

Stating that the LDCs were the worst victims of the climate crisis, DPM Shrestha said that the climate finance commitments made for adaptation, mitigation, loss and damage must be fully operationalized with simplified access to LDCs for the survival of economies and societies.

DPM Shrestha along with the delegation led by him had left for Doha on Friday to take part in the Fifth Conference of the Least Developed Countries. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 5 March 2023.