Side events at LDC5

12:15 - 13:45, Room 102

Lead organizer(s): SRSG Children in Armed Conflict

12:15 - 13:45, Room 104

Digital trade and ecommerce play an important role in reaching the goals set out in the “Doha Programme of Action”. Join us to look at the opportunities for LDCs to leverage e-commerce, and digital trade in general, for economic transformation. We consider how tools of digital promotion are transforming the prospects even for non-tech businesses and how strategic frameworks at country and regional level can serve as catalysts.

Beyond the immediate imperatives for businesses to weather the current turbulence in the macroeconomy, we consider the longer-term implications of trade shifting to e-commerce and try to understand how far and in what way this can support the sustainable development in LDCs.

The session will showcase experiences at the enterprise level and explore success stories on how to create the right environment to enable development benefits from e-commerce by governments and development partners. The panel of experts includes:
• Ms. Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director, ITC
• H.E. Seedy Keita, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, The Gambia
• Mr. Torbjörn Fredriksson, Head, E-commerce and Digital Economy Branch Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD
• Dr. Cosmas Zavazava, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU
• Ms. Nawshin Khair, Managing Director Aranya Crafts Ltd., Bangladesh
• Ms. Tadhim Uwizeye, Founder and CEO of Olado, Rwanda

Moderated by: Mr. James Howe, Head Digital, Markets and Connectivity, ITC

This session is organized in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Live streaming

12:15 - 13:45, Room 105

Lead organizer(s): United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

Effective disaster risk reduction and a risk-informed approach to development can turbocharge resilience in the least developed countries (LDCs). With an annual financing gap of $4.2 trillion[1] globally for the Sustainable Development Goals, LDCs cannot afford to miss the opportunity to prioritise resilience in their pursuit of sustainable development. With respect to climate risks, every dollar spent on resilience can save six in the long run. Investments in resilient infrastructure also earn dividends in expanding fiscal space in the long term. Implementing effective risk-informed approaches to development can enable LDCs to ensure their development progress is resilient to current, emerging, and future hazards, avoiding cycles of shrinking fiscal space in periods of disaster or crisis that hinder sustainable development efforts.
This event will showcase the opportunity presented by disaster risk reduction, and the offer of support to LDCs in this regard. Ultimately, the best practices, lessons-learnt and opportunities presented in this event can contribute towards the irreversible graduation of LDCs as they build resilience against present and future disasters.
[1] https://www.oecd.org/dev/OECD-UNDP-Scoping-Note-Closing-SDG-Financing-Gap-COVID-19-era.pdf

12:15 - 13:45, Room 106

Lead organizer(s): Saudi Arabia

On the occasion of the conference, KSA will organize a side event to present KSA’s aid. The event will be organized by KSrelief, SFD, and SDRPY. KSrelief will present a 20-minute slide show on the aspects mentioned below plus 10-minuts for questions and answers:

• Total humanitarian assistances for the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• KSA aid under the south-south cooperation.
• The kingdom response to the pandemic of COVID19 and the total assistance provided to countries in need.

12:15 - 13:45, Auditorium 2

Lead organizer(s): USAID

12:15 - 13:45, Auditorium 3

Lead organizer(s): UNCTAD

The event will highlight challenges faced by least developed countries (LDCs) in the promotion of investment in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-related sectors and present strategies, programmes and tools that governments can use to target and facilitate investment in SDG projects. This includes capacity-building programmes and digital tools that are offered by a coalition of UN entities, including through a new multi-agency capacity-building programme for investment promotion agencies (IPAs) of LDCs.

12:15 - 13:45, Exhibition Hall 2

Lead organizer(s): Qatar / Education Above All

12:15 - 13:45, Exhibition Hall 2

Lead organizer(s): Organisation international de la Francophonie (OIF) in partnershjip with the Commonwealth secretariat and the Seychelles

Le Programme d’action de Doha définit les domaines prioritaires et nouveaux objectifs que se fixe la communauté internationale pour la poursuite de son soutien aux pays les moins avancés pour la décennie en cours. Une décennie également cruciale pour l’atteinte des Objectifs de développement durable. Ce nouveau progamme vise notamment la sortie définitive de 15 pays supplémentaires de cette catégorie d’ici à 2031. Au moment où les PMA s’efforcent de se relever de la crise de la COVID-19, qui les a particulièrent affectés, et font face à une accélération du changement climatique et à une aggravation des phénomènes météorologiques extrêmes, les efforts de la communauté internationale doivent être ambitieux. A cet égard, les Petits Etats insulaires en développement (PEID) présentent des défis spécifiques qui ne peuvent être ignorés. Pour mieux soutenir les PMA et les PEID dans leurs efforts et atteindre ses objectifs, le programme d’action devra s’accompagner de la mise en place d’une mesure capable de prendre en considération de manière juste et complète les multiples vulnérabilités qui pénalisent leur développement. L’indice de vulnérabilité fera l’objet des discussions de cet événement.

The Doha Program of Action defines the priority areas and new objectives of the international community to support the least developed countries (LDCs) for the current decade. A decade which will also be critical for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. This new program for the LDCs includes in particular a target of 15 additional LDCs graduating from this category by 2031. As LDCs strive to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, which has more strongly affected them, and are facing an accelerating climate change and worsening extreme weather events, the efforts of the international community must be ambitious. In this regard, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) present specific challenges that cannot be ignored. To better support the LDCs and SIDS in their efforts and achieve its objectives, the Doha Program of Action should be accompanied by the establishment of a measure which takes into account in a fair and complete manner the multiple specific vulnerabilities which threaten their development. The vulnerability index will be discussed during this event.

17:15 - 18:45, Room 101

Lead organizer(s): UN SDG Action Campaign

By unlocking our human potential, by tapping into our creativity and diversity anchored in trust and solidarity, we can create futures in which we thrive. The high-level multistakeholder session serves as an inspiring space to discuss the importance of mobilizing action and momentum towards the SDG Summit in September 2023; building a journey from Doha to New York and putting the spotlight on key areas including, but not limited to climate action, peace, justice and gender equality. #Act4SDGs and #FlipTheScript to turn potential into prosperity, apathy to action, fear into hope and division into togetherness.

17:15 - 18:45, Room 102

Lead organizer(s): AOSIS

17:15 - 18:45, Room 104

Lead organizer(s): European Commission's Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) with the European Investment Bank (EIB)

The Doha Programme of Action recognises the importance of universal health coverage (UHC), including access to health-care services, and to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines, diagnostics, vaccines and other health technologies. Expanding the EU's international partnerships on health as part of the Global Gateway, in November 2022 the EC adopted a new EU Global Health Strategy to improve global health security and deliver better health for all in a changing world. With it, the EU reasserts its responsibility for tackling global challenges and health inequalities.

LDC countries are driving innovation and helping the world being better equipped to deal with future pandemics. The event is an opportunity to bring together the EC, EIB, WHO and LDC champions, and showcase how we can work respectfully together. The session will highlight the bridges built between the Team Europe initiative (TEI) on Manufacturing and Access to Vaccines, Medicines and Health Technologies (MAV+) and the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM).

17:15 - 18:45, Room 106

Lead organizer(s): Technology Bank for the LDCs/UNIDO

17:15 - 18:45, Auditorium 3

Lead organizer(s): Qatar / Doha International Family Institute

17:15 - 18:45, PSF room 1

Lead organizer(s): UNESCO

17:15 - 18:45, PSF room 2

Lead organizer(s): IDLO

The Side-Event will focus on the Investment Support Programme for Least Developed Countries (ISP/LDCs), a rule-of-law-based Doha PoA mean of implementation that the document commits to strengthening. Responding to the appeal enshrined in the Doha PoA (para. 260), the Side-Event will explore different avenues through which ISP/LDCs, as a rule-of-law-based mean of DPoA implementation, may be strengthened so as to maximize the contribution that it can make to the achievement of the PoA’s targets.

17:15 - 18:45, Auditorium 2

Lead organizer(s): ESCWA

17:15 - 18:45, Exibition Hall 2

Lead organizer(s): Bangladesh

To mobilize international supports to the need for continuation of LDC-specific support measures and flexibilities under WTO for at least 6 years for graduating LDCs. Bangladesh will host a side event on ‘Global Partnership for Smooth and Sustainable Graduation: Marching towards SMART Bangladesh’. Smooth and sustainable graduation will require close policy cooperation on multiple fronts among the LDCs and their development partners. Based on the success stories derived from digital Bangladesh, the country has moved with a set of action plan towards “SMART Bangladesh” to address the challenges of 4IR and harness benefits out of it.

17:15 - 18:45, Exibition Hall 2

Lead organizer(s): UN Foundation

The United Nation Foundation (UNF) is organizing a side event “Financial Transformations: Elevating LDC Voice and Action” as part of the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5). The side event will provide a platform for LDCs and partners to discuss priorities in addressing the critical financing gaps faced by the most vulnerable countries in delivering on their national development plans and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will provide an opportunity to align on and advance specific views, asks and demands of the LDCs in the context of the ongoing conversations on reform of the international financial architecture, ensuring that the voices of the LDCs are not left behind.

Conncept note (PDF)