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

E/RES/2026/7View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Economic and Social Council, under agenda item 11b Review and coordination of the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries, published in 2026.

What other versions does this mandate have?

4 versions · 2023–2026

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2026	E/RES/2026/7	Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 2022–2031	3,386	54%Compare
2025	E/RES/2025/23	Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 2022–2031	3,209	62%Compare
2024	E/RES/2024/18	Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 2022-2031	3,044	74%Compare
2023	E/RES/2023/29	Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 2022-2031	2,854	–

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

3 reports · 2024–2026

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2026	A/81/342 E/2026/80	Follow-up to the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries report of the Secretary-General	E/RES/2025/23
2025	A/80/82 E/2025/63	Follow-up to the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries report of the Secretary-General	E/RES/2024/18
2024	A/79/75 E/2024/8	Follow-up to the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries report of the Secretary-General	E/RES/2023/29

What subjects does this mandate have?

3 subjects

Development Assistance Least Developed Countries Programmes of Action

What’s in this document?

33 operative paragraphs

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,¹³ including its deliverables;

¹³General Assembly resolution 76/258, annex.

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;

Appreciates 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 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 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 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;

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-19¹⁴ 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;

¹⁴See A/74/843, annex.

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, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Sevilla Commitment 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;

Also recalls 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, 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 continue to integrate and mainstream the Doha Programme of Action 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;

Takes note of the benefits of updating the existing General Assembly resolutions on smooth transition, and in this regard notes the establishment and work of the open-ended ad hoc working group on the smooth transition for countries graduating from the category of least developed countries, in carrying out an inclusive and transparent process to review and update the existing resolutions on smooth transition and support to graduating least developed countries and recently graduated countries, and looks forward to the successful conclusion of the working group’s work;

Also takes note of the high-level meeting on sustainable graduation, held in Doha from 2 to 4 December 2025, and the Doha Agreed Statement on Global Partnerships for Sustainable and Resilient Graduation of Least Developed Countries agreed by graduating and graduated countries;¹⁵

¹⁵A/80/574-E/2026/8, annex.

Further takes note of the progress made thus far in the preparation of the comprehensive high-level midterm review of the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action, including the holding of the Asia-Pacific least developed countries ministerial regional review of the Doha Programme of Action, in Phnom Penh on 31 March and 1 April 2026, and the joint General Assembly-Economic and Social Council thematic event on the midterm review of the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries hosted by the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Council, on 24 June 2026 at United Nations Headquarters, and looks forward to the African least developed countries ministerial regional review of the Doha Programme of Action to take place later in 2026 in Addis Ababa;

Expresses its profound gratitude to the Government and the people of the State of Qatar for hosting the second part of the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries and for providing all the necessary support to the Conference and its follow-up processes;

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, and welcomes the generous offer of the Government of Qatar to host the comprehensive high-level midterm review from 25 to 27 March 2027;

Emphasizes the importance of country-level inputs to the preparatory process for the comprehensive high-level midterm review, and in this context welcomes with appreciation the national reports submitted by the least developed countries following national reviews undertaken on the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action, in close collaboration with the Office of the High Representative and with the United Nations resident coordinators and country teams in the least developed countries as part of the overall comprehensive high-level midterm review, with a particular focus on progress, obstacles, constraints, actions and measures necessary to further implementation of the Programme;

Reiterates the critical importance of the full and effective participation of the least developed countries in the comprehensive high-level midterm review at the national, regional and global levels, stresses that adequate resources should be provided, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to mobilize extrabudgetary resources and calls upon Member States, and invites other multilateral development partners, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and the private sector, to make voluntary contributions to the trust fund established by the Secretary-General in accordance with General Assembly resolution 59/244 of 22 December 2004, including to cover the cost of the participation of two government representatives from each least developed country in the review and the preparatory meeting;

Requests the Secretary-General, with the assistance of relevant organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, including the Department of Global Communications of the Secretariat, in collaboration with the Office of the High Representative, to continue to take the measures necessary to intensify their public information efforts and other appropriate initiatives to enhance public awareness on the outcome of the midterm review, including by highlighting its programme of action, objectives, key deliverables and significance;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Council at its 2027 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.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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