Doha Forum Highlights AI and Private Capital for Development

In Doha, Qatar, leaders gathered at the recent Doha Forum to discuss the crucial role of artificial intelligence (AI) and private capital in addressing global development challenges. The event, held under the theme “Justice in Action: Beyond Promises to Progress,” highlighted that technology alone cannot bridge the widening gaps in peace, climate resilience, and economic opportunities.

Collaboration and Innovation at the Forefront

During a high-level panel, Alexander De Croo, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), emphasized the importance of harnessing private-sector innovation and investment. He outlined two key priorities for the collaboration between Qatar and UNDP, focusing on enhancing digital infrastructure, AI-enabled public services, and green technology.

“First, we want to deepen our joint work on innovation and systems transformation,” De Croo stated. He noted that Qatar’s investment in UNDP’s Accelerator Labs Network has uncovered over 6,500 grassroots development solutions worldwide, ranging from climate action to new livelihood opportunities.

De Croo also addressed the need for renewed funding to support the transition into UNDP’s Digital, AI and Innovation Hub, along with the soon-to-be-launched Transformation Accelerator Network. These platforms aim to test, scale, and fund innovative solutions to pressing challenges such as extremism, displacement, and poverty.

Development as a Security Investment

Another focal point of De Croo’s address was the notion that development represents a crucial investment in security, particularly in regions affected by conflict. He stated, “Through our collaboration with the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) and other national partners, UNDP aims to expand support for the Gaza Ceasefire Response Plan as conditions allow.” This initiative seeks to progress beyond immediate relief efforts to restore livelihoods and stabilize the financial sector.

“This is about enabling a wider economic recovery and reconstruction,” he added, highlighting the importance of deploying blended-finance mechanisms to support micro, small, and medium enterprises.

In addition, De Croo reaffirmed that UNDP continues to provide essential services in Syria, including support for civil service payrolls. His broader vision is to create a strategic Qatar-UNDP portfolio that connects immediate relief efforts with long-term systems transformation and economic empowerment, particularly for women and youth.

“It’s about turning vital daily assistance into long-term, systemic change,” he stated, reinforcing UNDP’s operational philosophy of listening closely to communities, partnering boldly across sectors, and delivering tangible results.

De Croo concluded his remarks by stressing the necessity of moving beyond verbal commitments. “Global commitments to peace, climate, and inclusive growth in isolation are not enough on their own. People around the world are not asking for more declarations. They want to see action and results,” he said.

He also noted Qatar’s role in facilitating dialogue on various global issues, including conflicts in Gaza, Syria, and Ukraine. “Mediation is a core pillar of Qatari foreign policy, and the Forum once again positioned Doha as a platform for open, constructive dialogue,” he remarked.

De Croo’s broader agenda as the newly appointed UNDP Administrator aims to place development at the heart of geopolitics. “Investing in sustainable development is the smartest way to address the root causes of instability, extremism, and forced migration rather than responding to crises after they happen,” he asserted.

“Development is not an abstract ambition. It is electricity in a clinic, a safer home, a job that lifts a family. That is what UNDP is here to deliver, every day, in every place where people are counting on us,” De Croo concluded.