Her Excellency the Vice President of the Republic of Uganda Hon. Jessicaca Alupo Epel arrived this evening in Doha the capital city of the State of Qatar at 5.20pm aboard Qatar airways at Hamad international airport. In her entourage was the Minister of State for Finance General Duties Hon. Henry Musasizi, Hon. Fred Opolot, Amb Pacunega Beatrice, Head Economic Monitoring at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and officials from the Vice President’s office headed by the Principal Private Secretary Mr. Alex kakooza . Her Excellency the Vice President of the Republic of Uganda Hon. Jessicaca Alupo Epel was received at Hamad International Airport by Uganda’s Ambassador and Head of Mission to the State of Qatar H.E Stephen Chemoiko Chebrot and other embassy officials. Her Excellency the Vice President of the Republic of Uganda Hon. Jessicaca Alupo Epel is in the State of Qatar for a 5 days 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries. The conference seats every after 10 years, the last one (4th Un Conference on SDGs) having taken place in the capital city of Turkey, Istanbul in 2011. The third conference sat in Brussels in 2001 The first conference was held in Paris in 1981 The purpose of the conference is to generate international attention and action to address challenges of poverty and hunger, achievement of universal education, promotion of gender equality and empowerment, improvement of maternal health and reduction of child mortality, combating of different diseases, protection of nature and building of synergies as enshrined in the millennium development goals 2000. Most of the above challenges are prevalent in the least developed countries since majority fall in the category of the low human development index. The United nations categorizes a country's resilience to the above challenges and compatibility to sustainable development goals according to the human development index. There are 3 categories of human development index These include, high, medium and low human development index Only 5 African countries are in the category of high human development index of 0.700-0.799 and these are; Mauritius, Egypt, Seychelles, Libya and South Africa While 6 African countries are in the medium human development index of 0.550-0.699 and these are; Botswana, Morocco, Ghana, Cape Verde, Sao Taome and Equatorial Guinea India is also in this category. The rest of the African countries are in the low human development index category of 0.550 downwards Uganda is slightly below the medium human development index as it stands at 0.53 HDI as at 2021.This is a great shift from the original position of 0.329 HDI in 1990. The African country with the lowest human development index is South Sudan at 0.39 At the end of the conference, it is expected that delegates will come up with a declaration designed to address challenges that impede the attainment of sustainable development goals in the least developed countries During her stay in Qatar, Her Excellency the Vice President of the Republic of Uganda Hon. Jessicaca Alupo Epel will hold side meetings with: 1. H.E. Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, Prime Minister of the State of Qatar. 2. H.E Sheikh / Khalifa Bin Jassim Al Thani, Chairman Qatar Chamber of Commerce 3. H.E. Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, Chairman Qatar business Association (QBA). 4. H.E. Sheikh Faisal Bin Thani Al Thani, Head of Regional Portfolios at Qatar Investment Authority (QIA); Chairman, Board at Ooredoo Group (QIA). * Headed of High Powered delegation to Uganda in March 2018 She will also hold side meetings with leaders of the delegations from Sweden, Austria, Estonia and Thailand. The Hon Minister of Foreign Affairs General Abubakar Jeje Odong will also attend the conference and will as well hold side meetings with: H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. 2- H.E. Dr. Khalid Al Attiyah, The Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister of Defence who is the former Foreign Minister of Qatar. 3- H.E. Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, The Chairman of QATAR Business Association and a member of the Royal Family. 4- H.E. Mohammed bin Twarr, The Vice President of QATAR Chamber of Commerce. 5. H.E Yusuf Bin Ahmad Alkuwari , CEO Qatar Charity The vice president will be among dignitaries who will address the LDCs Summit on 4th March, 2023