H.E. The Ambassador gives a speech during the launch of Accelerator Labs Network of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

H.E. Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Ambassador of the State of Qatar gives a speech at the launch of Accelerator Labs Network of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany. The event was attended by Mr. Martin Jäger, State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, HE Mr. Achim Steiner United Nations Development Program Administrator, a large number of representatives of international organizations and various German ministries and departments.

H.E. The Ambassador praised the efforts of international cooperation to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion for vulnerable and marginalized people, especially in conflict contexts.

In his speech, The Ambassador emphasized on the State of Qatar's efforts to achieve the goals of sustainable development around the world, "based on its National Vision 2030 and its commitment to address the multidimensional development challenges facing the international community in a coordinated, coherent and effective manner." He pointed out at "creating and sharing new ideas, experiences, techniques and making them available to all is which will play a key role in development of the Accelerating Labs Network development and the community." ‘’ The international community needs to strengthen acceleration and innovation efforts through a range of peer-to-peer learning in order to analyize and dissect lessons learned, focusing on identifying effective solutions, and develop strategies to address the different challenges faced during their experiments.

H.E. Sheikh Saoud Al-Thani stressed that ‘’The State of Qatar remains dedicated to achieve the international cooperation goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030 and to further collaborate with the international community – governments, UN agencies and other organizations alike - to take concrete actions that promote inclusion, empowerment and equality in order to translate the aspirations of leaving no one behind into reality.’’

H.E. The Ambassador invited the guests to participate at the Launch of the Accelerator Labs Network that will take place in Doha.

The State of Qatar provided $ 20 million to fund the establishment of UNDP initiative of Accelerator Labs Network, which will be launched in 60 developing countries. The State of Qatar committed $ 16 million in core resources of the UNDP program. Germany has announced its support for this project and it is a partner in the establishment of Accelerator Labs Network.