HE the Director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Foreign Ministry Ambassador Tariq bin Ali Al Ansari, met with the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Head of the UN Mission in Somalia at the UN headquarters in Mogadishu, Michael Keating.
The meeting discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two sides, as well as matters of mutual interest.
In his speech at the workshop for Qatar’s humanitarian and development partners on Somalia’s resilience and recovery framework held in Mogadishu, HE Al Ansari affirmed Qatar’s commitment to work with the Somali federal government and align its funding with the priorities of the National Development Plan.
He said that the State of Qatar supports humanitarian efforts, resilience and recovery through partners such as Qatar Charity, Red Crescent and others, in partnership with the United Nations and national authorities, stressing that Qatar’s support for Somalia is based on its principled position on global commitments including the “No One Will Be Left Behind” vision for 2030 plan.
He pointed out that since 2010, Qatar has provided $ 210 million in development aid to Somalia. Doha also signed a $200 million bilateral agreement with the Somali government on November 28, which focus on job creation, infrastructure support, education and economic empowerment and more of economic sectors to be implemented in partnership with the United Nations.
Ambassador Al Ansari stressed the need for effective regional and global actors to take a unified and coherent approach when supporting Somalia in order for such support to be effective.
Humanitarian coordinator for Somalia Peter de Clercq welcomed the commitment of the State of Qatar in partnership with Somalia, and said that he is encouraged to see the government begin discussions to find a way forward on how to strengthen Somalia’s structural capacity to prevent future humanitarian disasters that are undermining the country’s path towards recovery and reconstruction.
He pointed out that the effective and collective response to drought has so far faced the famine in 2017, pointing out the need for more partnership initiatives to stimulate development in the long term and to protect progress and fragile achievements, stressing that it is not possible to continue waiting until the end of the current crisis in Somalia before long-term participatory and collective solutions can begin to help address fragile and insecure factors in the country.
Minister of Planning, Investment and Economic Development of Somalia HE Jamal Mohamed Hassan thanked the State of Qatar, which recently signed $200 million development agreements with the federal government for the development of infrastructure, including support for education and youth employment initiatives, pointing out that the impact of repeated climate shocks still impede the development vision of the government, which calls for the development of preventive measures and sustainable solutions based on flexibility and sustainable development.
Somali minister said in the same context that in 2018, as part of the resilience and recovery framework, the government aims to accelerate cooperation between humanitarian and development partners on agreed collective outcomes.
Mogadishu, Information Office , December 04
