Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera will deliver a keynote address on Thursday at the Fifth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in New York, US, where he is expected to advocate for increased support for 46 poor countries of the world by rich countries and developed countries.

Foreign Minister Nancy Tembo, briefing reporters on Monday, said the Malawian leader is expected to hold bilateral meetings with different stakeholders.

Said Tembo: ”This is a high level meeting as it will give the platform for leaders including the leader of Malawi, President Lazarus Chakwera to meet the United Nations, (UN) representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) among others to negotiate for more aid for Malawi.

As Chair of the United Nations Group of Least Developed Countries, the President, Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, will represent the 46 LDCs and deliver a message on their behalf at the conference to be held at the United Nations Headquarters.

The conference will launch the Doha Agenda for LDCs, which has priority areas that are critical for developing countries and which are aligned with Malawi’s development aspirations.

Areas of interest include; investing in the people of LDCs, enhancing international trade of LDCs, structural transformation as a driver of prosperity, harnessing the power of science, technology and innovation and mobilizing international solidarity as well as tackling climate change.

President Chakwera will leverage these priority areas for national development in line with Malawi’s Agenda 2063, with a focus on the first 10-year implementation plan.

According to the Foreign Ministry statement, President Chakwera will hold bilateral consultations with, among others, senior officials and leaders.

The senior officials and leaders that President Chakwera will hire include among others; UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Achim Steiner Administrator of the United Nations Development Program and Sheikh Mohammed bin Adulrahman Al-Thani Deputy Prime Minister of the State of Qatar, host country of the next meeting of the UN-LDC5.

This is the fifth United Nations conference on the group of least developed countries since 1981, and it takes place every ten years.

The conference provides an opportunity for the United Nations to send a strong signal to the international community on the need for special programs in favor of LDCs such as loans and grants in terms of financing for development, multinational trade such as markets preferential treatment and trade integration technical assistance. .

Malawi assumed the chairmanship of the United Nations group of least developed countries in 2018, and it will end in September 2022.

The United Nations recognizes the least developed countries (LDCs) as a category of States considered to be very disadvantaged in their development process since more than 75% of their population still lives in abject poverty.

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