His Majesty King Letsie III concluded his mission to the High-Level Week of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly with the much-anticipated bilateral meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Antonio Guterres.
The meeting focused on the UN active involvement and support in various developmental and humanitarian efforts in Lesotho, including economic growth and peace and stability.
The Secretary General conveyed his best wishes to His Majesty for the bicentenary of the founding of the Basotho nation.
He further reaffirmed the United Nations’ continued support to the efforts to consolidate sustainable development and help address the adverse impacts of climate change in Lesotho.
Other highlights of the day included the participation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Relations, Mr Lejone Mpotjoane to the 48th Annual Meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77.
In efforts to address the financing challenges of developing countries to support the full implementation of the 2030 agenda for sustainable Development, Mr Mpotjoane appealed to the entire United Nations body to take up measures such as the reform of the international financial architecture, scaling up ODA by developed countries and further scaling up of concessional financing through Multilateral Development Banks for all developing countries.
He also stressed the importance of the need for developed countries to meet their climate finance obligations based on the Paris Agreement through the provision of adequate resources, while also emphasizing that climate finance should not be double counted as Official Development Assistance.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Dr. Rets’elisitsoe Matlanyane held a successful meeting with the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) where they discussed an array of issues with potential capital support to Lesotho by means of grants, loans, concessional finance and guarantees.
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