麻豆APP

His Excellency Mr. Alexander Stubb, Hon’ble President of the Republic of Finland,
H.E. Mr. Lok Bahadur Thapa, Chair of the LDC Group,
Hon’ble Ministers,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Colleagues,

It is a great honour and privilege to address you at the closing of the 4th LDC Future Forum.  

I deeply regret not being able to join you all in Helsinki this year due to an injury, but I am delighted to know that it was yet another very successful gathering – my heartiest felicitations to our host and to you all.  

I wish to begin by expressing my deep appreciation to His Excellency President Alexander Stubb for honouring us with his kind presence today. 

Mr. President, your presence reflects Finland’s longstanding commitment to the LDCs and your personal dedication to keeping LDC issues high on the international agenda.  I thank you, Sir. 

Finland’s leadership in advancing inclusive development, innovation, education and international cooperation, continue to inspire the global community.

I extend my heartfelt thanks to Minister Elina Valtonen, Minister Ville Tavio, Minister Anders Adlercreutz, and colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and all our Finnish partners for their outstanding efforts in making this Forum another remarkable success.

My sincere appreciation to all Ministers, Permanent Representatives, and all other participants, for enriching this Forum with their valuable contributions.

My special thanks to our youth representatives for their active participation. Your ideas, creativity and determination brought both urgency and optimism to our deliberations.

Excellencies,

The last three days have been intense, but remarkably productive.

My Office will circulate a summary capturing the key recommendations emerging from the discussions. 

Allow me now to briefly highlight four key messages that resonated strongly throughout the discussions.

First, the Forum underscored the urgent need to align education systems in the LDCs with rapidly evolving labour markets and technological change. 

There was strong emphasis on the importance of strengthening school-to-work transitions, expanding technical and vocational education, investing in STEM education, and promoting lifelong learning opportunities. 

The field visits here offered particularly valuable insights, demonstrating how sustained investment in training teachers, infrastructure, and innovation can build resilient education systems that prepare young people for the jobs of the future. 

Second, we heard a strong and consistent call to make digital transformation far more inclusive. 

Digital technologies can help the LDCs overcome structural barriers linked to geography, shortages of qualified teachers and limited tertiary education infrastructure. 

Online learning platforms can become powerful accelerators of opportunity.

Yet millions of young people remain excluded due to growing digital divides.

Young women and girls, rural communities, persons with disabilities and other marginalized groups continue to face disproportionate barriers.

The Forum emphasized the importance of targeted and gender-responsive policies, investments in affordable connectivity, digital literacy, and inclusive digital ecosystems to ensure that no one is left behind.

In this context, I was particularly encouraged by the strong interest generated around the Online University for LDCs.

If realized, it could make a transformative contribution to expanding access to quality STEM education, digital learning and skills development across the LDCs.

Third, the Forum highlighted the critical role of entrepreneurship, innovation ecosystems and MSMEs in unlocking youth potential and accelerating economic transformation. 

We heard inspiring examples of young entrepreneurs creating innovative solutions and generating employment opportunities.

As one young entrepreneur reminded us so powerfully that talent alone is never enough. Young innovators require enabling ecosystems, including access to finance, and conducive regulatory environments.

And finally, this Forum reaffirmed the indispensable importance of partnerships. 

Obviously, the scale of transformation required cannot be achieved by governments alone.  We need a whole-of-society approach, bringing together all stakeholders – as we witnessed in this Forum. 

It will also require sustained international cooperation, financing, stronger public-private partnerships and greater investment in young people.

Mr. President,
Excellencies,

Ultimately, the true measure of our success will be whether the young people of the LDCs enter the next decade with greater opportunities, stronger agency and a deeper sense of hope than ever before.

They are not waiting for change. They are already innovating, creating and leading.

Our responsibility is to ensure that they are provided with the right opportunities to fully realize their aspirations and potential.

Let us therefore move forward with renewed commitment, stronger partnerships and greater urgency.

Let me conclude by thanking Team Helsinki and Team OHRLLS for their dedication, professionalism and outstanding efforts in delivering such a successful Forum.

I thank you once again, Mr. President, for being with us today.

And I thank you all, distinguished participants, for your valuable partnership and contribution. 

I thank you.