President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly H E Abdulla Shahid (pictured) has lauded Qatar’s ‘preventive diplomacy’ saying that Qatar has emerged as a key, international partner for conflict resolution.
“Qatar is at the forefront of global policy-making, promoting critical dialogue, and engaging leaders from diverse policy backgrounds and expertise to address current and emerging global challenges and advance pragmatic solutions,” he said in his speech at the opening of 20th edition of Doha Forum yesterday.
He added: “The success of Doha Forum and its emergence as a prime forum of choice for the world’s top decision makers is also reflective of Qatar’s emergence on global platform as a key, strategic and international partner for conflict resolution, preventive diplomacy, soft power diplomacy and humanitarian assistance.”
He welcomed the theme of Doha Forum 2022 saying, “I welcome this year’s thematic focus on ‘Transforming for a New Era’. We gathered at a time of fragility and vulnerability as we emerge from a generational pandemic and as conflicts shake the foundations of our multilateral institutions.”
He said that the world faces multiple armed conflicts, rising extremism, nuclear proliferation, cyber threats, disinformation, and widening impacts of climate change. “Millions of people are suffering the consequences of inequality, regional rivalries, and erosion of basic freedoms; trends which have been accelerated and amplified during COVID-19 pandemic.”
He said that 274 million people including women and children are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance and protection. “Afghanistan now confronts grave humanitarian crisis.”
Talking on Qatar 2022, he said that Qatar, through the FIFA World Cup, is harnessing the power of sports to stimulate human, social, economic, and environmental development in communities across Qatar, and the wider region. He said that Qatar 2022 will be the first carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup in history.
Abdulla Shahid further said that Qatar has made exceptional preparations to create a lasting legacy for Qatar, the Middle East, Asia, and the world through the FIFA World Cup.
On Russia-Ukraine war, he renewed the call for an immediate ceasefire and to resolve disputes through diplomacy and dialogue.
He said that the world has struggled to cope with the immense strain of COVID-19 for over two years. “Many of people have experienced the virus directly, and all of people have experienced it indirectly. Those fortunate enough to live in a country with high vaccine-accessibility are especially hopeful that this could soon be the case. But in countries with low vaccine-accessibility the pandemic continues to leave its tragic marks.”
He added: “The danger of more variants emerging is very real, threatening to undo all that we have achieved. There is only one solution: universal vaccination,” he stressed. He praised the recent adoption of the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2022-2031 on March 17 as a “welcome development”, noting that the Programme of Action commits the world to a new generation of renewed and strengthened commitments between the Least Developed Countries and their development partners, as well as the private sector and civil society.
