麻豆传媒

H.E. Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, Hon’ble President of the Republic of Zambia,
H.E. Mr. Ville Tavio, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, Finland,
Hon. Dr. Owen Chomanika, Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change, Malawi,
Hon. Mr. Mulambo Haimbe, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Zambia,
Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, Hon. Minister of Finance, Zambia,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Colleagues,

It is an honour and real privilege to welcome you all to the third LDC Future Forum here in the beautiful city of Lusaka. 

Allow me to express our deep appreciation to the Government and people of Zambia for their warm welcome and generous hospitality, and for the excellent arrangements made for this Forum. 

Mr. President, your presence here today is a powerful testament to your personal commitment to advancing the cause of the LDCs. We are truly honoured by your presence and grateful for your support and leadership.

I would also like to sincerely thank the Government of Finland for its steadfast support and partnership. 

Finland's continued commitment to the LDC Future Forum has been instrumental in creating and sustaining this vital platform for policy dialogue, knowledge exchange and transformative action.

Since its inception, the LDC Future Forum has grown into a critical platform where policymakers, researchers and practitioners come together to identify practical solutions to the most pressing challenges facing the Least Developed Countries. 

The strong participation of LDCs, development partners, UN agencies, and other stakeholders at this Forum reflects its growing relevance and impact.

Excellencies,
Distinguished Colleagues,

The theme of this year’s Forum "Enhancing Resilience" is both timely and urgent.  

For LDCs, building resilience is not a choice, but a necessity. The realities are sobering:

?    LDCs contribute just 3.3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet they bear a disproportionate burden of climate impacts. Disaster related mortality in LDCs is 2.5 times the global average, and economic losses represent 2.4% of GDP - compared to the global average of just 0.32%. 

?    Only 61% of LDCs have national disaster risk reduction strategies, and just 46% have operational multi-hazard early warning systems.

?    In the period between 2008 and 2018, droughts and floods led to agricultural losses exceeding $58 billion. 

?    Today, 57% of LDC populations face food insecurity, and 22% are undernourished, more than double the global average. 

?    Only 20% of LDC population have access to clean fuels and technologies. The renewable energy capacity in LDCs is just one-tenth of the global average, highlighting a critical need for investment in this sector. 

?    External debt has tripled since 2010, now standing at $774 billion, with 13% of export earnings absorbed by debt servicing. 

?    While ODA reached $37 billion in 2023, this still represents only 0.09% of donors' GNI-well below the UN target.

These challenges are daunting. Yet LDCs possess immense potential for transformation. With the right policies, investments, and partnerships, we can build a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable future for the 1.1 billion living in the 44 LDCs.

Over the next three days, this Forum will provide a critical opportunity to assess the multidimensional risks that LDCs face - from climate and economic shocks to food and energy insecurity, and more importantly, to generate concrete, actionable solutions for lasting impact.

We are privileged to be joined by a diverse group of experts - policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and UN specialists. Their ideas and insights will be instrumental in shaping our collective vision and charting practical pathways towards enhanced resilience in LDCs.

Allow me now to outline some of the key priorities that our discussions will focus on:

To start with, we need innovative financing mechanisms and partnerships.  

Nearly two-thirds of climate finance to LDCs now come as loans vis-à-vis only one-third as grant, which is further deepening debt burdens.

This must change.

Financing for LDCs’ must be concessional, risk-informed, and catalytic, leveraging both public and private resources. 

Debt relief is also vital for LDCs to create fiscal space.

Comprehensive, integrated financing frameworks should blend traditional aid, concessional finance, and private capital specifically tailored to building resilience in LDCs. 

Instruments such as carbon finance, risk insurance, guarantees, catastrophe bonds, climate resilience funds, debt swaps, and climate-resilient debt clauses can play a critical role. 

To make these instruments truly effective, the support of the development partners is critical. 

Second: climate-smart agriculture is key to ensuring food security and safeguard livelihoods in LDCs, where nearly half of the population depends on agriculture. 

Scaling up investments in climate-adaptive farming techniques, sustainable irrigation systems, and improved storage infrastructure to reduce post-harvest losses is critical. 

These efforts must prioritize locally tailored solutions that enhance productivity while building resilience to climate shocks.

There are promising models on the ground. 

For example, the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture has developed over 60 resilient crop varieties, including flood-tolerant, saline-tolerant, and heat-resistant rice varieties that have helped triple national rice production. 

Third: sustainable water management and access to clean, renewable energy offer transformative potentials. 

With only 55% of the LDC population having access to electricity, investments in renewable energy offer a path toward both resilience and development. 

Promising initiatives like biogas systems in Kenya and Rwanda supported by the Louis Dreyfus Foundation, provide scalable models.

Fourth: the circular economy holds promise for economic diversification and resilience. 

Moving from a linear "extract-manufacture-use-dispose" model to circular approaches can dramatically reduce environmental pressures while creating new economic opportunities. 

This is particularly crucial for resource-constrained LDCs. 

LDCs must be supported in developing enabling policy frameworks that promote resource efficiency, sustainable production, and green jobs.

Fifth: robust social protection systems are essential to safeguard the most vulnerable.

Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme and Cambodia’s digital IDPoor database show how timely, targeted, digitally enabled, and shock-responsive mechanisms can break cycles of vulnerability. 

LDCs must be supported to reform their social protection systems to be more unified, with strong digital infrastructure, and inclusive of the most vulnerable. This must be supported by the development partners. 

[And lastly]: building strong data systems and analytical capacities is crucial. 

Better data enables better forecasting, planning, and risk mitigation, which are foundational elements for resilience.

Excellencies,

The Doha Programme of Action (DPOA) provides a blueprint for addressing the multidimensional vulnerabilities of LDCs and building their resilience against systemic shocks. 

Its five key deliverables - particularly the Food Stockholding Mechanism and the Resilience Building Mechanism - are central to this objective. 

My Office, together with partners, has made tangible progress in operationalizing these deliverables. 

?    We are preparing a comprehensive study, which will propose a set of pilot countries for the Food Stockholding Mechanism and convening an UN-wide task force to guide the process.

?    Similarly, the Resilience Building Mechanism, is also being developed in collaboration with UNDRR and WMO, which will focus on strengthening multi-hazard early warning systems. 

We are grateful to the Government of Qatar for its continued generous support in advancing these important DPOA deliverables and DPOA implementation, and for its continued strong commitment to the LDCs. 
I invite other development partners and donors to also come forward in the same spirit of solidarity and support in support of the LDCs and to advance the DPOA.

Excellencies,

The upcoming global conferences, including the 3rd UN Conference on LLDCs (LLDC3) in August, COP30 in November, the 2nd WSSD in November, and the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development in July, offer important opportunities to highlight the unique situation, challenges, and priorities of LDCs. 

As we approach the midterm review of the DPOA in 2027 and the final stretch of the 2030 Agenda, strengthening the resilience of LDCs must remain central to our efforts.

This Forum is a timely opportunity to align research, policy, and partnerships in support of that goal. The ideas and insights generated here will help bridge the gap between global commitments and local realities, delivering evidence-based solutions that can be scaled for lasting impact.

As the UN’s High Representative for LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS, I remain fully committed to keeping the priorities of LDCs high on the UN agenda and to advancing efforts that make a tangible difference in the lives of over one billion people across 44 LDCs.

In that spirit, the upcoming Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, to be held in Turkmenistan this August, will be another milestone. With half of the LLDCs also being LDCs, it offers a key moment to advance common priorities and integrated solutions. I urge high level participation at LLDC3 by LDC member states. 

Thank you once again, for your kind presence and support.  I thank our hosts for the wonderful arrangements made for us.  I am confident that this Forum will be yet another success in our shared journey toward a more resilient future. 

I thank you, Hon’ble President, for being with us today.