Former president of Austria and current President of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, Dr Heinz Fischer, expressed deep gratitude for the generous support provided by Qatar to the centre with the aim of achieving sustainable development and peace in the world.
Dr Fischer praised the contribution of Qatar in financing the women’s empowerment programme in Latin America, which was launched by the global programme for the implementation of Doha Declaration in co-operation with the centre.
This came during the ceremony of signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Qatar and the Ban Ki-moon Center for Global Citizens, in Vienna. From the Qatari side, ambassador of Qatar to Austria and Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations and international organisations in Vienna Sultan bin Salmeen al-Mansouri signed the agreement and from the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens side, Dr Heinz Fischer did the honours.
Director, Division for Treaty Affairs at United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) John Brandolino attended the signing ceremony. Al-Mansouri stressed in his speech during the ceremony on the importance of the role played by the Ban Ki-moon Center for Global Citizens, and stressed Qatar’s keenness to support the Center and its various activities, including the women’s empowerment programme in Latin America.
Al-Mansouri added, I am pleased to convey to you the full support of Qatar for this innovative programme, and its pride in the achievements of the global programme.
The most recent of which is the programme for empowering women and building women leaders in Latin American countries in order to transform education policy.
This is to promote justice and the rule of law and achieve sustainable development goals, through education and training, to influence the direction of economic and social development in their societies, and to set the right example for the next generation of leaders.
In his speech, the permanent representative addressed the consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic, and indicated in this regard that women and girls are among the main victims of this epidemic, which calls for the empowerment of women to reduce the impact of the epidemic on their societies. Al-Mansouri stressed that having more women in leadership is vital for the future, stressing that the Women Empowerment Programme is an inspiring step to achieving these noble goals.
On the global programme for the implementation of the Doha Declaration, al-Mansoori indicated that Qatar, by bearing the funding of this programme, affirmed its belief in global solidarity when it decided to transform the Doha Declaration and the goals of the 2030 Sustainable Development Plan into action programmes on the ground for the sake of human happiness, achieving prosperity and promoting world peace.
Qatar had provided direct support for this programme, in addition to the support provided by the global programme for the implementation of the Doha Declaration.