Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to participate in the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) to be held in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, on March 5-9.

An inter-ministerial meeting, chaired by Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, was held on January 30 regarding the Prime Minister’s participation in the LDC5, spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Seheli Sabrin told reports at a weekly briefing on Thursday.

The LDC5 is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to accelerate sustainable development in the places where international assistance is needed the most - and to tap the full potential of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) helping them make progress on the road to prosperity.   

Over five days of the LDC5 Conference in Doha, world leaders will gather with the private sector, civil society, parliamentarians, and young people to advance new ideas, raise new pledges of support, and spur delivery on agreed commitments, through the Doha Programme of Action.

At the Conference, it is expected that specific initiatives and concrete deliverables will be announced that will address LDC-specific challenges.

The Conference will feature plenary sessions, parallel high-level thematic roundtables, and a series of parallel and side events on various thematic priorities of the DPoA.

A Summit level meeting of the LDC Group, chaired by the President of Malawi, will be held on the day before the Conference.

A commemoration event on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Group of LDCs will be held after the opening session on 5 March 2023.

There will also be dedicated events for the Private Sector, CSOs, Youth, Parliamentarians and South-South tracks on the margins of the Conference.

The world’s Least Developed Countries are in a race against time to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The remaining years need to usher in a new global partnership to ensure these 46 countries benefit from social, economic and environmental development, according to the UN.