Manama: The global economic crisis has delayed development in most countries, especially the least developed ones, and has increased unemployment figures, Qatar's Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani has said.

"So tackling this crisis is the biggest challenge facing globalisation, which is based mainly on trade and development. This crisis was the outcome of fundamental imbalances in the economic and financial systems, institutions and policies which were not tackled in spite of all efforts made to achieve that at the level of the States concerned, individually or collectively," he said.

Sustainable economic and social development, investments and international trade require domestic stability, Shaikh Hamad said.

"The success of development efforts and the evolution of trade cooperation between different countries require the availability of a global climate where justice, security and stability prevail," Shaikh Hamad said.

"The worsening of the tension and conflicts, and the lingering of a number of international issues without final settlement hinder the achievement of peace and development," the Emir said, quoted by Qatar News Agency (QNA).

In a speech to the 13th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XIII) in Doha, Shaikh Hamad said that instability in some Arab countries was not the result of only poverty, youth unemployment, and disparity in regional development.

Oppression and suppression policies, lack of popular participation in economic and social decision-making and of equal opportunities, corruption and the accumulation of wealth by a small group of regime and big business figures at the expense of the majority of the people were also major causes for uprisings, he said.

Efforts to introduce fundamental reforms in the global financial order that triggered the global economic crisis must be enhanced to ensure globalization does not turn into a barrier to economic development.

"It is essential here that the reform process is based on humanitarian principles that put public interest before personal interest, and fight against greed and gambling with other s money," the Qatari leader said

Shaikh Hamad stressed the need for an international environment of cooperation that will create a more just and balanced partnership and narrow the economic gap between countries.

"This requires the developed countries to maintain allocating a percentage of their gross domestic product for poor countries as previously agreed upon, and help to open money markets to finance investments in developing countries," he said.

With 2015, the date set for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, inexorably approaching, the world should start from now formulating and identifying new development objectives beyond 2015, he said.

"They should take into account the new events and developments and aim at achieving peace, development and prosperity for all," he said.