Watch part two of this episode 

With the global financial crisis crippling banks, stock markets and industries across the world, it may be easy to overlook the developing world and its uneasy future.

That is where the Doha conference, a UN forum focusing on aid and co-operation for development, is supposed to come into the picture.

However, many of the most important heads of state, as well as the leaders of the IMF and the World Bank, failed to show up at the summit in the Qatari capital, raising the question of whether there is anyone left who is willing to pay for development in a time of crisis.

This episode of Inside Story asks if, considering the no-shows, the Doha conference is just a waste of time and money and whether poorer nations can take any hope from a summit that the richest nations will not even attend.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Sunday, November 30, 2008.