EVENTS
An OPEC Fund delegation led by Director-General Alkhalifa confirms the institution’s commitment to the poorest nations in the world By Axel Reiserer, OPEC Fund EVENT: LDC5 – UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE
SOLIDARITY WITH THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
W ar, earthquakes, hunger. As the international headlines are dominated by one crisis after the other, the poorest countries in the world rarely win the attention they deserve. The 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) in Doha in March put a spotlight on the 1.1 billion people living in the most vulnerable countries. An OPEC Fund delegation led by Director-General Abdulhamid Alkhalifa took the opportunity to reaffirm the institution’s commitment to the development of these countries. Director-Genera Alkhalifa said in a speech at the conference: “Our mandate is to promote sustainable development and alleviate poverty in these economies.” At the same time, he called on the international community to find new approaches: “We recognize that traditional financing models may not be sufficient […]. There is clearly a need for innovative solutions to tackle the challenges facing entrepreneurs, including limited access to capital and other resources.”
Investing in new skills and technologies has the power to turn the digital divide into a digital dividend for LDCs.
Al Shaimaa Al-Sheiby, OPEC Fund, Senior Director for Strategic Planning & Economic Services
PHOTO: OPEC Fund/Musab Alomar
Leading from the front, the OPEC Fund signed a grant agreement with the United Nations Capital Development Fund for the implementation of a joint Climate Finance and Energy Innovation Hub in cooperation with the UN-affiliated organization Sustainable Energy for All. The hub is designed to accelerate access to modern energy services and support
energy transition in developing countries, particularly least developed ones. A first pilot offering clean cooking solutions is under preparation in Madagascar, while in the future Mozambique, Malawi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo could also benefit. Representing the OPEC Fund at the Ministerial Dialogue, Senior Director Al
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