Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2022–2031

E/RES/2025/23View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A document of the Economic and Social Council, under agenda item 12bReview and coordination of the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries, published in 2025.

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3 versions · 2023–2025

2025E/RES/2025/23Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 2022–2031LatestCompare with previous version
2024E/RES/2024/18Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 2022-2031Compare with previous version
2023E/RES/2023/29Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 2022-2031

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3 entities

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3 topics

Development Assistance Least Developed Countries Programmes of Action

What does this mandate say?

32 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the reports of the Secretary-General on the follow-up to the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, on multi-hazard early warning systems in the least developed countries, on an international investment support centre for the least developed countries, on the implementation, effectiveness and added value of smooth transition measures and graduation support, on food insecurity in the least developed countries: modalities, terms of reference, governance and support structures for the Food Stockholding Mechanism for the Least Developed Countries and on the work of the Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries;

Expresses its profound gratitude to the Government and the people of the State of Qatar for hosting the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries and for providing all the necessary support to the Conference and its preparatory process;

Expresses its appreciation to all development partners for the support provided to the least developed countries and for the continued commitment of support to the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries, including its deliverables;

Calls upon the least developed countries, their development partners, the United Nations system and all other actors to further intensify their efforts to fully and effectively implement, in a coordinated, coherent and expeditious manner, the commitments in the Doha Programme of Action;

Encourages the international community, and welcomes existing initiatives, to provide targeted support for the least developed countries, as well as recently graduated countries, for the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action and for responding to the multiple global crises, inter alia, of food, energy and finance, building resilience to possible future pandemics and expanding productive capacities, including for quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, while ensuring the sustainability of external debt;

Takes note with appreciation of the road map for the accelerated implementation of the Doha Programme of Action, calls for it to be kept up to date, and encourages the least developed countries, development partners and all relevant stakeholders to make use of it;

Expresses its appreciation to the least developed countries that have developed an ambitious national implementation strategy for the Doha Programme of Action and integrated its provisions into their national policies and development frameworks and are conducting regular reviews with the full involvement of all key stakeholders, and calls upon the least developed countries that have not yet developed a national strategy to do so urgently, with the support of their development partners;

Calls upon the least developed countries, in cooperation with their development partners, to broaden their existing country-level review mechanisms and report dissemination, including those for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the implementation of nationally determined contributions, United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks and the existing consultative mechanisms, to cover the review of the Doha Programme of Action and extend them to all least developed countries;

Reiterates the calls to development partners and all other relevant actors to implement the Doha Programme of Action by integrating it into their respective national cooperation policy frameworks, programmes and activities, as appropriate, to ensure enhanced, predictable and targeted support to the least developed countries, as set out in the Programme of Action, and the delivery of their commitments into results and to consider appropriate measures to overcome shortfalls or shortcomings, if any;

Invites the relevant United Nations regional commissions and agencies to undertake biennial reviews of the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action in 2025 in close coordination and cooperation with subregional and regional development banks and intergovernmental organizations;

Calls upon resident coordinators and United Nations country teams, as well as country-level representatives of the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral institutions, to continue to collaborate with and provide enhanced support to national-level implementation, follow-up and monitoring of the Doha Programme of Action;

Invites the private sector, civil society and foundations to contribute to the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action in their respective areas of competence in line with the national priorities of the least developed countries;

Decides to devote adequate time in its programme of work to discussion of the sustainable development challenges facing the least developed countries in order to enhance engagement and implement commitments set out in the Doha Programme of Action;

Also decides to continue to include periodically during its annual session an agenda item on the review and coordination of the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action and to conduct periodic reviews of progress made and constraints confronted by least developed countries to allow for focused interaction, and requests the Development Cooperation Forum to continue to review trends in international development cooperation, as well as policy coherence for development, including for the least developed countries and graduated countries, which will be supported by reviews by the Council’s functional commissions and other intergovernmental bodies and forums;

Invites the United Nations system, including the governing bodies of the United Nations funds and programmes and other multilateral organizations, including the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund and other international financial institutions, as well as the World Trade Organization, to contribute to the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action and to integrate it into their programmes of work, as appropriate and in accordance with their relevant mandates, and invites those organizations to participate fully in reviews of the Programme of Action at the national, subregional, regional and global levels;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure the full mobilization and coordination of all parts of the United Nations system to facilitate coordinated implementation and coherence in the follow-up to and monitoring of the Doha Programme of Action at the national, subregional, regional and global levels, broadly utilizing the coordination mechanisms available, such as the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination and the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, and keeping the Inter-Agency Consultative Group for Least Developed Countries active in this regard;

Reaffirms its decision to include the Doha Programme of Action as part of its review of the implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits, including the review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Recalls the operationalization of the Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries, and invites Member States, as well as international organizations, foundations and the private sector, to provide increased voluntary financial contributions and technical assistance to ensure its contribution to the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action;

Expresses deep concern at the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the least developed countries, takes note of the statement dated 28 April 2020 of the Group of Least Developed Countries on COVID-19 and commits to supporting its implementation, as appropriate, and invites development partners, international organizations and other stakeholders to support the least developed countries in their recovery efforts and continued implementation of the unfulfilled agenda of the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development;

Expresses concern that the increased pressure on food, energy and finance and growing inequalities between and within countries, elevated inflation, rising global interest rates, tightened financial conditions, high indebtedness, disruptions in supply chains, and geopolitical tensions and conflicts, together with the adverse impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss and digital divides, have exacerbated challenges for many countries in addition to those associated with COVID-19 recovery, increasing hunger, and all forms of malnutrition and poverty and inequality;

Notes with concern that global progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is severely off track to realize the 2030 Agenda, with 35 per cent of targets on track or displaying moderate progress, while progress on 47 per cent of the targets is insufficient, and 18 per cent of the targets show regression from the 2015 baseline, underscoring the urgent need for intensified efforts to put the Sustainable Development Goals on course, and calls for targeted financing and support to the least developed countries necessary to enable achievement of deep economic, societal and environmental transformation;

Recognizes that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is intrinsically linked to the successful implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, is deeply concerned by the marked increase of the estimated Sustainable Development Goal financing gap to between 2.5 and 4.03 trillion United States dollars annually for developing countries, and recognizes the urgency of providing affordable, predictable, sustainable and sufficient development finance to developing countries, especially the least developed countries;

Notes that the global macroeconomic outlook remains highly uncertain, and is particularly bleak for many developing countries, including a large number of least developed countries, faced with growing debt service burdens and tight fiscal constraints and that such a finance divide will, if left unaddressed, translate into a lasting sustainable development divide, and calls for improved international debt mechanisms to support debt review, debt payment suspensions and debt restructuring, as appropriate, with an expansion of support and eligibility to vulnerable countries in need;

Notes with concern that the least developed countries continue to face disproportionately high poverty rates, with one third of the population still living under the international poverty line, which is posing a further threat to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, stresses the need for global support for the least developed countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as ensuring that no one is left behind, and further recognizes the importance of enhancing good governance at all levels by strengthening democratic processes, institutions and the rule of law, increasing efficiency, coherence, transparency and participation, achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, protecting and promoting human rights, reducing corruption and strengthening the capacity of Governments of least developed countries to play an effective role in their economic and social development;

Reaffirms that the least developed countries, as the most vulnerable group of countries, need enhanced global support to overcome the structural challenges, as well as the continuing multidimensional repercussions of the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the deteriorating situation of food security and nutrition, lack of finance and energy, and increase of poverty, that they face in implementing the 2030 Agenda, and in this regard calls upon the international community to prioritize and strengthen support from all sources to facilitate the coordinated implementation and coherent follow-up to and monitoring of the Doha Programme of Action, the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda in the least developed countries;

Recalls the decision contained in the 2030 Agenda that effective linkages will be made with the follow-up and review arrangements of all relevant United Nations conferences and processes, including on the least developed countries, underlines the importance of strong synergy in the implementation of the recently adopted agendas and the Doha Programme of Action at the national and subnational levels, and encourages coordination and coherence in the follow-up of their implementation;

Welcomes General Assembly resolution 79/226 of 19 December 2024 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system, and urges the United Nations development system to continue to prioritize allocations to the least developed countries, in order to support the least developed countries in their efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda in a coherent and integrated manner and ensure effective delivery of support and services to programme countries in accordance with national development policies, plans, priorities and needs and in line with the mandates of the entities of the United Nations development system, further urges the United Nations development system to continue to enhance its support for the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action, which is integral to the 2030 Agenda, and calls upon the entities of the United Nations development system to integrate and mainstream the Doha Programme of Action fully into their operational activities for development;

Takes note with appreciation of the work of the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States to continue to mobilize resources and support the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action, including the establishment of the key deliverables and capacity-building to assist the least developed countries in mainstreaming the Programme of Action into their national development plans and strategies;

Calls for ensuring an incentive-based international support structure to graduating and graduated least developed countries, including support for their smooth transition from development and trading partners, as well as the United Nations system, to make graduation sustainable and ensure post-graduation development momentum and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals;

Reiterates that wider recognition of least developed country status could stimulate and facilitate better integration of the Doha Programme of Action into development policies, and requests the United Nations development system to prioritize allocations to the least developed countries by developing operational guidelines with clear budget targets, as appropriate;

Recalls paragraph 309 of the Doha Programme of Action, in which the General Assembly was invited to consider conducting a comprehensive high-level midterm review of the implementation of the Programme of Action in 2026, welcomes the generous offer of the Government of Qatar to host the comprehensive high-level midterm review in the first quarter of 2027, and recalls the decision of the General Assembly to elaborate on the modalities of the comprehensive high-level midterm review at the eightieth session of the Assembly;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Council at its 2026 session, under the sub-item entitled “Review and coordination of the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries” of the item entitled “Implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits”, a progress report on the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action.

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