EU Presidency Statement - Industrial development cooperation

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe associated with the European Union - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the associated countries - Cyprus, Malta and Turkey align themselves with this statement.

Mr. Chairman,

The European Union should like to address Agenda item 85 a) Industrial development cooperation.

First of all, we should like to thank the Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) for his report on industrial development cooperation. We are pleased with the results beginning to show from the reform process undertaken by UNIDO during the last 5 years. Given the relatively small size of UNIDO, the EU believes that it is important for UNIDO to achieve an even tighter focus of its activities. We therefore encourage the Director General to continue his efforts to identify those areas where UNIDO has the greatest ability to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Declaration, Millennium Development Goals, the other internationally agreed goals, as well as among other things the relevant parts of the Plan of Implementation of the WSSD in Johannesburg.

We also attach importance to the adoption of the integrated programme approach, and redesign of UNIDO's service modules with a view to strengthening UNIDO's contribution to the development targets set out in the Millennium Declaration. It is imperative that a reformed UNIDO is capable of effectively supporting industrial development in a manner conducive of poverty eradication and sustainable development. In this respect we would also like to highlight that UNIDO should strengthen its efforts in order to form partnerships with the private sector.

The increased relevance of the work of UNIDO and its partners in promoting sustainable industrial development follows from the accelerated pace of globalisation. The guiding objective of these efforts should be to work towards ensuring that all countries get a fair share of the benefits of economic globalisation while at the same time pursuing environmentally sound policies of industrial development.

UNIDO should respond to the rapid changes in technological progress by continuing to engage in initiatives to help developing countries meet their urgent needs. However, the EU finds that UNIDO should maintain focus on interventions where UNIDO has clear comparative advantages within the framework of UNIDO's existing mandate. All states and all stakeholders have an interest that multilateral efforts in development are streamlined and efficient and that duplication of work is avoided. In this context the EU welcomes UNIDO's decision to join UNDG.

We would especially like to encourage UNIDO to continue to pursue activities that are targeted at strengthening the industrial capacities of developing countries, including capacities to engage in international trade. It is important to help developing countries overcome supply side constraints, so that they can fully profit from trade liberalization, in line with the Doha Development Agenda. In Monterrey the EU also recognised the importance of capacity building, including productive capacity building. And in this regard, we welcome the confirmation of the Director General in the last Industrial Development Board that UNIDO is increasingly planning to concentrate its activities on LDCs, particularly in Africa.

Furthermore, we would also like to see UNIDO study further, where appropriate, the feasibility of undertaking regional programs.

Finally the organisation is encouraged to continue to define the proper role of the field offices to ensure that they play an effective role in the implementation of operational activities. In this connection, the EU would like to stress the need for coordination amongst UN agencies, funds and programmes, in order to achieve a more effective field presence.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.

| Haut |