Foreign Minister Khanal stresses on assistance to address development challenges of LDCs

Kathmandu, Sept 25: Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal has said that support focused on finance, climate justice, productive capacity, and sustainable development is needed to turn international commitments made for least developed countries (LDCs) into action.

Addressing the annual ministerial meeting of foreign ministers from least developed countries at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday in the context of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, he mentioned that LDCs are facing additional challenges in development due to global crises.

According to the United Nations, even though LDCs make up about 14 percent of the world’s population, their share in global trade is less than 1.5 percent, and they are extremely vulnerable to external shocks.

Minister Khanal mentioned in a meeting held as the three-year term of the LDC group, chaired by Nepal, was ending, that the devastating floods and landslides that hit Nepal’s trans-Himalayan trade routes a few weeks ago, referring to them as a ‘Himalayan tsunami’, Minister Khanal’s Secretariat said.

“This disaster that has come upon Nepal and Nepali people is not just a single Himalayan risk; it is a terrifying expression of the unequal climate risks that the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the LDC family face every day,” he said.

He mentioned that due to the flood, valuable human lives were lost, important trade routes were blocked, bridges and infrastructure were damaged, and the livelihoods of a large number of communities were affected, and he paid tribute to the deceased and expressed condolences to their grieving families.

Minister Khanal said that Nepal has tried over the past three years to implement the Doha Programme of Action and to place LDC priorities at the centre of the global development agenda.

He said that while serving as the group’s chair, Nepal worked with a commitment not to let the LDC agenda be marginalized in international decision-making processes. “During our tenure, we focused on ensuring that the LDC agenda would never be neglected in international decision-making,” Minister Khanal said.

He mentioned that a special summit on LDCs was held in collaboration with the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States during the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development held in 2025.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Khanal mentioned that through this effort, it helped to include LDCs’ priority ‘Seville Commitment’ on concessional finance, financial sector expansion, debt sustainability, and technology transfer.

Highlighting that Nepal has prioritized climate justice during its chairmanship of LDCs group, Minister Khanal mentioned that although LDCs contribute little to greenhouse gas emissions, these countries are experiencing the biggest impacts of climate-related disasters.

“LDCs contribute negligibly to global greenhouse gas emissions, but our communities have suffered the most serious damage. We have called for sufficient grant-based climate finance, the immediate capitalization of the loss and damage fund, and a multi-hazard early warning system for everyone,” he said.

Minister Khanal said that Nepal has prioritized sustainable and irreversible graduation from the LDC category.

According to the United Nations, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Laos are among some LDCs that are in the process of graduating.

“Crossing a certain economic indicator isn’t the ultimate goal of upgrading the level. It should be strengthened with the ability to handle production capacity and external as well as climate-related shocks,” he said.

Minister Khanal, shared that Nepal is going to hand over the chairmanship of the LDC group to Gambia, and expressed Nepal’s full and continuous support to the new chair and bureau. (RSS)