Side events at LDC5

12:15 - 13:45, Room 102

Lead organizer(s): CFC

Presentation of the outcomes of joint project of CFC and UNCTAD regardingn practical opportunities in high value markets for indigenous commodities marketed as nutraceuticals. Also highlighted the the potential of impact investments to harness the opportunities with practical examples to serve as models in the impementaiton of Doha Programme of Action

12:15 - 13:45, Room 104

Lead organizer(s): Generation Amazing / Qatar

12:15 - 13:45, Room 105

Lead organizer(s): International Organisation of Employers (IOE)

Climate change impacts are becoming clearer and clearer, especially in vulnerable regions and among the most exposed populations. In the LDCs this is evidenced by, inter alia, disproportionately high levels of economic losses, damage to critical infrastructure, disruption of basic services, devastating impacts on oceans and seas, loss of vulnerable ecosystems, land degradation, thereby threatening the lives of many people. Biodiversity loss, deforestation, water stress and global pollution from chemicals and waste remain major global challenges, while desertification, land degradation and coastal erosion continue to increase.

A key cross-cutting issue that needs to be addressed appropriately is adequate education and skills in labour market that enable sustainable development to happen. Realizing the ambitions of sustainable and inclusive recovery and increased resilience from COVID-19, leaving no one behind, fulfilling the interrelated and ambitious objectives of the SDGs like decarbonization, preventing biodiversity loss, managing plastics waste, empowering communities, creating sustainable jobs and economic growth will require a systems-thinking approach and efficient collaboration with innovative approaches.

Today there are 226 million young people in least developed countries who are real agents of change for structural transformation. Their potential can be scaled and reached through productive capacity development in agricultural, manufacturing, tourism; building and maintaining sustainable and resilient infrastructure, nature-based solutions, promoting life-cycle approaches and circular economy principles; expanding energy access and broadband connectivity; tapping into emerging technologies, markets and skills for sustainable development; mainstreaming technology-driven entrepreneurship and developing innovative digital ecosystems; delivering digital services and applications.

12:15 - 13:45, Room 106

Lead organizer(s): ESCWA

This event will inform policymakers, humanitarians, conflict prevention and peacebuilding practitioners of the need to better understand how climate change can exacerbate vulnerabilities as well as how this may affect outbreaks and dynamics of conflict. This event will aim to:

• Understand the impacts and the combined consequences of climate risk and armed conflict on people’s lives and resilience.

• Identify potential links between climate change and conflict risk and increase the understanding of the impacts of climate change on conflict prevention, recovery, and sustaining peace in the LDCs, including through systematic approaches.

• Highlight key areas of policy and programming pertaining to supporting resilient sustainable development in LDCs, with particular focus on those affected by conflict and vunerable to climate risks.

• Explore concrete steps to support risk informed policy making and planning dedicated towards mitigating the impact of conflict and climate change.

12:15 - 13:45, Auditorium 2

Lead organizer(s): Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has dramatically exacerbated global food insecurity and poverty with increased prices for food, fuel and fertilizer, and increasing risk of famine. In addition to conflict, climate-change and more frequent extreme weather events have provided further challenges with impacts particularly felt by the most vulnerable people with little or no access to social safety nets.

In this context, concerted efforts are needed for tackling the challenging situation particularly in least developed countries, by increasing financial protection especially for vulnerable people through pre-arranged financial instruments to better manage climate-induced disasters. At the same time, responses to current crises must focus on facilitating longer-term transformation, including climate adaptation and resilience in agriculture and food systems as well as other sectors to avoid future crises.

The side event will focus on efforts to facilitate a just transition by linking responses to the food, fuel and fertilizer crisis to measures for sustainable transformation and resilience against future shocks. It will showcase relevant current initiatives for LDC, such as the Global Shield against Climate Risks and the Global Alliance for Food Security.

12:15 - 13:45, Auditorium 3

Lead organizer(s): Bangladesh, Lao PDR and Nepal

As Bangladesh, Lao PDR, and Nepal prepare Smooth Transition Strategies (STSs) for graduation under unprecedented circumstances, the LDC5 Conference provides an opportunity to clearly articulate national approaches to the challenge and practically ground elements the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA) at this critical moment. For each country, this is an opportunity to demonstrate proactive national leadership of the process and lay the foundations for mobilizing international support to national strategies.

The three countries have already begun collaboration for learning through coordination support from respective UN Resident Coordinator’s Offices (UNRCOs). The proposed side event is a follow-up of the ongoing collaboration and an opportunity to distinctly showcase the common and specific necessities of these three graduating LDCs who qualified for graduation in 2021. The sideline discussion could be used as a forum for joint statement/advocacy of all three countries and the outcome can feed the discussion of the high-level thematic Round Table on Supporting Sustainable and Irreversible Graduation on 5th day of LDC5. Key objectives of the side event include:

-To continue collaboration between graduating countries for learning and cooperation.

-To build support mechanism for the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action through development and implementation of Smooth Transition Strategies (STS).

Call for continue the existing and introduce new international support measures against the national requirements identified by the graduating cohort of 2021.

12:15 - 13:45, Exhibition Hall 2

Lead organizer(s): World Trade Organization

Digital trade offers unprecedented opportunities for connecting small businesses to global markets. LDCs, which are home to one billion young and dynamic people with growing entrepreneurship spirit, have an untapped potential in digital trade. The international community can help LDCs with realizing their full digital trade potential, including by strengthening infrastructure and adopting good regulatory practices, through co-operation in international and regional fora. This session will explore the challenges and opportunities of LDCs in digital trade. It will also offer private sector perspectives and identify actions to better support LDCs firms in their efforts to better connecting to the global markets.

12:15 - 13:45, Exhibition Hall 2

Lead organizer(s): Qatar Minister of Education and Higher Education

17:15 - 18:45, Room 101

Lead organizer(s): GCF

17:15 - 18:45, Room 104

Lead organizer(s): United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries

The event is specifically aligned to Focus Area One and Two of the New programme of Action on “Investing in people and Harnessing STI to address multidimensional vulnerability”.

The Side Event will highlight and discuss the potential of Digitalization and Innovation as key enablers to for addressing poverty and vulnerability and Leave No One Behind (LNOB) in LDCs

17:15 - 18:45, Room 105

Lead organizer(s): UNCDF

Structural transformation as a driver of prosperity in the LDCs requires continued support to improve fiscal space, build domestic capital markets and invest in climate resilient and inclusive infrastructure and services. Local governments play a critical role in achieving sustainable development, but they often lack adequate technical capacity, financing and support. Reliable, comparative data help to understand the investment financing gap in sustainable development and economic recovery in LDCs. Data-driven and evidence-based mechanisms can strengthen local governments’ capacity to plan, finance and implement localized investments through fiscal decentralization and blended finance. This event will launch World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment (SNG-WOFI) LDC report to raise awareness of the data gap in subnational finance and data-driven reforms in the LDCs and to call for international support to secure the financing needed for subnational transformative investments, thus contributing to the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action.

17:15 - 18:45, Room 106

Lead organizer(s): United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

17:15 - 18:45, Auditorium 2

Lead organizer(s): ISA

Agenda

17:15 - 18:45, Auditorium 3

Lead organizer(s): ITU/UNGIS

Highlighting the theme of the WSIS Forum 2023 (13-17 March), this session will focus on how the ICTs and the WSIS Action Lines can help building back better and accelerating the achievement of the SDGs in LDCs, learning from the COVID-19 experience to build an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable societies and economies. It is important to strengthen partnerships and digital cooperation towards achieving goals and targets across the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

17:15 - 18:45, Exhibition Hall 2

Lead organizer(s): INFF Facility - UNDP, DESA, OECD, UNICEF

17:15 - 18:45, Exhibition Hall 2

Lead organizer(s): Canada / OHRLLS

Despite the trend towards more financing through multilateral platforms, LDCs still face myriad challenges to accessing sufficient resources to achieve their sustainable development and climate objectives. Through UN-OHRLLS, Canada is now supporting a study that directly engages with LDC finance and planning ministries to better understand and synthesize their experience in accessing traditional loans and grants, as well as climate finance, to advance national projects and programs. Through a detailed questionnaire, a series of regional LDC roundtables and a mapping of the primary traditional and climate financiers (including grantors), this study aims to document the experience of LDCs in accessing finance as a basis for recommendations to streamline and simplify LDC access to finance. This event will present the findings of the study and a high-level panel will discuss the recommendations and ways forward.