At the ongoing Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Doha, H.E. Fitsum Assefa (PhD), Minister of Planning and Development, stated the need to carve new pathways to address the developmental quest of the LDCs. She pointed out that the global economic and financial system currently in place has failed to deliver a meaningful response thus far. In her statement, the Minister also noted that the LDCs continue to exert efforts both to cushion the effects of global instability and sustain their hard-won development gains. The Minister further underscored that commitments made to create level ground for integration of LDCs into global markets didn’t yield much result. She emphasized the urgent need to free more resources for development finance through granting debt relief.
Sharing Ethiopia’s successful experience in agricultural reform, the minister informed the conference about the significant increase in wheat production as well as the Green Legacy Initiative. She presented Ethiopia’s experience as good examples of what LDCs can achieve when they focus on their endowments and adopt the right priorities. The Minister concluded by asserting Ethiopia’s commitment to continue to pursue a pro-poor policy path in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2063 of the African Union and the Doha Program of Action.