Qatar urges forming UN development agenda

The State of Qatar underlined the urgent need for building momentum and accelerating the pace of efforts to develop and formulate the United Nations (UN) development agenda for post-2015 with a focus on the contribution of women, youth and civil society.The came in the statement of the State of Qatar delivered by HE Qatar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Sheikha Alia Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani before the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on the contributions of the youth and civil society in the development plan. Despite the contributions of women, youth and civil society in the preparation of the development agenda for post-2015, there are still many existing challenges for full and effective participation in the comprehensive and sustainable development, said Sheikha Alia, explaining that these challenges are represented in the discriminatory practices, inequality, marginalization and poverty. These challenges hinder the capabilities of these categories to participate as genuine partners in the comprehensive development efforts, she added.The statement affirmed in this regard, that Qatar has paid special attention to the youth sector through setting proper education programmes and the provision of productive employment opportunities for graduates and remove all obstacles to their working lives in order to empower them and involve them in decision-making.Concluding, Sheikha Alya confirmed that the plan of promoting the full participation of all stakeholders, including women, youth and civil society in the formation, implementation and monitoring of the development agenda for post-2015 is a core issue to advance the promotion of comprehensive and sustainable development.