Qatar Underscores Importance of Enhancing African Nations’ Role in Countering Security, Global Development Challenges

The State of Qatar has affirmed that reinforcing the role of African countries in addressing the challenges facing security and global development in Africa is extremely significant, in addition to bolstering global peace and security, as well as accelerating the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030. Qatar pointed out that the strategic significance of Africa, its rich resources and the growing number of its population - which is projected to exceed 2.5 billion by 2050, centralize the continent and makes it an indispensable player in shaping the global future. This came in the State of Qatar's statement delivered by Deputy Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Jassim Sayar Al Maawda at the UN Security Council open debate on maintenance of international peace and security and strengthening the role of the African State in addressing global security and development challenges, held at the UN headquarters in New York. The State of Qatar is proud of its advanced relations and strategic partnership with the African nations at all levels, Al Maawda said, underlining that the State of Qatar has been making unwavering efforts in the areas of preventive diplomacy, mediation in conflict settlement and peacemaking in Africa. Qatar is committed to making these efforts in accordance with the priorities of the African Union's initiative to silence the guns, and the UN-led efforts on peacemaking operations in Africa, he added. He highlighted that the State of Qatar's mediation efforts included Sudan, Chad, Somalia, and the border dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea, along with its humanitarian and development efforts in many African nations. The statement shed light on some examples in this context, pointing out that in November 2023, the State of Qatar announced its contribution with USD 20 million to support the 'Grain From Ukraine' program in support of African countries to obtain Ukrainian grain exports. In September 2023, the State of Qatar pledged USD 12 million in humanitarian aid for the Horn of Africa region to counter the menace of famine and food insecurity challenges, with the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) funding the second phase of 'Building Resilient Communities in Somalia' project (BRCIS), in collaboration with the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Somalia. This is in addition to the State of Qatar's steadfast humanitarian efforts in Sudan and other nations, along with its contribution with USD 60 million for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) during the conference hosted by the country in March 2023, the statement noted. The statement expressed the State of Qatar's pride in forging advanced strategic partnership with the African countries in investment fields, especially that the Qatari investments are diverse and sustainable and primarily focus on renewable energy, agriculture and infrastructure, noting the fourth Qatar Economic Forum (QEF) that was held in early May of 2024, in Doha. The forum thoroughly discussed ways to connect the Middle East and Africa through enhancing the economic development in Africa, given the growing partnership between the State of Qatar and the African countries. The statement highlighted that the State of Qatar hails partnership with the African countries in the bilateral global counter-terrorism efforts through the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), noting the country's participation in the high-level meeting on strengthening regional cooperation and institution building to address the evolving threat of terrorism in Africa, held in May 2024, in Abuja, Nigeria. The State of Qatar reiterates its welcome of the recommendation set forth in the UN Secretary-General's new agenda for peace represented in establishing frameworks and robust regional organizations, the statement outlined. The agenda called for forging partnership between the UN Security Council and the African Union (AU) to capitalize on the AU's experiences, thus underpinning the principle of "African solutions to African problems" with respect to peacemaking efforts in Africa and the world. The State of Qatar calls for strengthening the regional and global efforts to achieve the initiative to silence the guns that was launched by the AU in 2013, and thereby stresses the importance of implementing the UN Security Council's resolution No. 2719 to ensure a sustainable and predictable funding to support AU-led peacekeeping operations, the statement added. The statement also asserted that for the sake of reinforcing the role of the African countries in addressing security and global development challenges, the State of Qatar reiterates the importance of strengthening conflict prevention efforts and addressing their root-causes that hamper the efforts of curbing the challenges facing stable governance, sustainable peace, security, and development in Africa. The statement also emphasized the State of Qatar's need for reforming the global financial struc ture, and setting a just agenda for climate change that would overtly meet Africa's needs for funding the efforts of countering the challenges posed by climate change, in addition to capacity-building and technology transfer so as to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change and enhancing the sustainable development. Source: Qatar News Agency