EU Statement Programme and Budget Committee - Vienna

Agenda Items of the provisional agenda,
5. Programme and Budgets, 2004 - 2005, and
7. Working Capital Fund for the biennium 2004 - 2005.


Mr. President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and the acceding countries. The countries associated with the EU - Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey associate themselves with this statement.

The EU regrets the fact that a number of documents relevant to the discussion of the proposed budget have been issued very late in the preparation process.

The EU takes note of the regular budget as it is proposed in document PBC.19/3. The EU appreciates the efforts by the Secretariat to develop a budget that is both in line with the limited number of priorities defined by the Business Plan, the MTPF as well as the Strategic Guidelines adopted at the last IDB. The EU would like to stress that the Business Plan should continue to provide basic guidance in formulating the budget and the future priorities for UNIDO. The EU is of the opinion that the Director General should work in the direction of identifying efficiencies in order to maximise value for money for UNIDO's available resources.

After examining the proposal for the biennium 2004 - 2005 regular budget, as contained in document BPC.19/3, the EU notes that most of the major programmes show a reduction in their budget when compared to the biennium 2002-2003.

Indeed, the budget for the substantive Major Programmes C and D, which constitute the backbone of UNIDO's development activities, show a small decrease. The EU understands that this evolution will reflect efficiency gains, which will allow UNIDO to achieve the same results as in previous years with a lower level of expenses.

On the other hand, the sections in the budget concerning administrative activities remain unchanged or will experience a slight growth. This remark concerns Major Programme B (General Management) and Major Programme E (Regional Programme) due to a change in the structure of the programme management, and Major Programme G (Buildings Management). The EU understands that this trend accommodates some changes necessary to complete the process of reforms at UNIDO. The EU urges the Secretariat to actively strive for further efficiency gains.

The EU takes note of the decrease in the operational budget due to a lower income from support cost earned and requests the Secretariat to work in consultation with member States and the relevant international Organisations and Funds to ensure that this trend does not have negative implications for the future.

The EU takes note that the estimated level of the TC- delivery remains at the same level as that of the previous biennium. It also takes note that the estimated level of TC-delivery during the biennium 2002 - 2003 seems to be realistic and achievable taking into consideration the good start in TC-delivery in 2003. The EU particularly welcomes the confirmation in the Annual Report that TC-delivery per member of staff has continued to increase over the last seven years. We hope that the estimated level of TC-delivery will also be achieved during the biennium 2004-2005, bearing in mind the increased role of UNIDO as an executing Agency for the GEF.

The EU welcomes the introduction in the draft Programme and Budget 2004 - 2005 of performance indicators for each programme in order to strengthen the evaluation function of the Organisation and underlines the necessity of these being further elaborated and improved. The EU believes that these indicators could be further developed. In particular the EU would like to see performance indicators that are more specific through, for example, the use of quantifiable targets. Again, this is an issue that we hope the Comptroller General's Office will be able to tackle, not least in order to reinforce UNIDO's efforts on results-based management.

The EU welcomes the establishment of the new programme B.4 (Comptroller General) in Major Programme B for further strengthening the control mechanisms and internal oversight functions of UNIDO.

As to the proposal by the Secretariat to maintain a separate budget line "special resources for Africa" in the regular budget, the EU would like to request more information on the "ad hoc" activities to be funded by this budget line as well as a more detailed splitting in financial terms, in order to allow member States to consider the proposed utilisation of these funds.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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• EU Statement Programme and Budget Committee - Vienna (23/4/2003)
• EU Statement Programme and Budget Committee - Vienna (23/4/2003)