DOHA: Qatar yesterday signed an agreement to provide a grant of $88.5m to the United Nations multi-partner trust fund. It is the single largest donation of Qatar to the United Nations.
The fund is supervised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is to fund recovery efforts and reconstruction for Darfur in Sudan.
The agreement was signed at the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations.
The signing ceremony were attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah, Director of the Department of International Development Dr Ahmad Almurekhi, Ambassador H E Sheikha Alia Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani, the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations, and senior officials of United Nations Development Programme.
Helen Clark, Director of the UNDP expressed gratitude to Qatar and its unwavering support for peace and recovery in Darfur. She said “We believe that investing in development in Darfur would put an end to the violence and spread the seeds of peace in this region of Sudan.”
According to a statement issued by UNDP, this support is one of the results of the Darfur Peace Agreement, which was signed in Doha in 2011, and will start implementing immediate priorities included in the development strategy for Darfur, which was launched during the International Donors Conference in April 2013.
The three pillars of the Darfur Development Strategy are Reconstruction; Governance, Justice and Reconciliation; and Economic Recovery. The statement said: “The contribution of the State of Qatar today to meet half the requirements for urgent requirements contained in the strategic development of Darfur.” The desired total requirements as stated in the plan six years amounting to $7.2bn.
The Peninsula
