By Chisomo Phiri
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-In his capacity a Least Developed Countries (LDCs) chairperson, President Lazarus Chakwera will from March 15 – 19, 2022 undertake an official visit to United States of America (USA).
The Foreign Ministry made the announcement in a statement adding that Chakwera will, among other engagements, participate in the first part of 5th UN Conference on the LDCs Which will launch the Doha Programme of Action for LDCs on March 17, 2022 at the UN Headquarters in New York.
This will be Chakwera’s third foreign trip since the start of February this year, following trips to Belgium and Ethiopia last month.
In 2020, President Chakwera had his first UN participation as LDCs Chairperson.
During this time, Chakwera addressed the United Nations ( UN) through a pre-recorded statement on the urgent action needed on biodiversity for sustainable development.
Stating dissatisfaction that the world could not deliver on the 20 goals set per the Secretary-General’s Global Biodiversity outlook 2020, Malawi leader advised all parties involved to take collective measures to stop the ongoing devastation of biodiversity so as to minimize the risk on millions of animal and plant species to be extinct in a decade or sooner.
He stated that the destruction of world’s natural environment and habitats endangers public health, pointing to Covid-19 effects as an example of such risks , which impacts the Least Developed Countries the most.
Chakwera urged the building a global sustainable economy, incorporating the reduction of inequalities, avoiding rampant wastage of resources and addressing environmental degradation among other measures as attainable solutions to the problems faced.
The President also proposed that the international biodiversity funding to the LCDs should be doubled by 2030 to help in meeting the LDC,s goals on the matter.
The least developed countries (LDCs) are a list of developing countries that, according to the United Nations, exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, with the lowest Human Development Index ratings of all countries in the world.
The concept of LDCs originated in the late 1960s and the first group of LDCs was listed by the UN in its resolution 2768 (XXVI) of 18 November 1971
