Mr Chair, Director General, Excellencies, distinguished delegates,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina[1]  as well as the EFTA country Norway, member of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.

Mr Chair,

I warmly congratulate you on your election and assure you of our full cooperation. I would also like to warmly thank the outgoing Chair, Ambassador Khokher of Pakistan, and other Bureau members for their valuable work since the last PBC. We also reiterate our strong support for Director General Gerd Müller and his reform agenda under the motto “Progress by innovation”.

Mr Chair,

We remain committed to further strengthening our relations and cooperation with UNIDO, as discussed during the most recent EU-UNIDO- High Level Dialogue in Brussels. In this regard, we value UNIDO’s participation in the EU Global Gateway Forum, the EU Industry Days and the Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference. Thank you DG for your presence. These are landmark EU events aimed at mobilising significant investments for sustainable industrial development worldwide.

The EU and its Member States commend the Director General for his Annual Report. We note that UNIDO completed in 2023 its first-ever results-based budget, in accordance with the Medium-Term Programme Framework 2022-2025 and the Integrated Results and Performance Framework.

We appreciate UNIDO’s activities contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and welcome consensus on UNIDO’s input to the High-Level Political Forum in New York in July.

We expect that a reformed and strengthened UNIDO will prove itself fit for purpose to support its Member States to address the global crises which have put sustainable development at risk. Regrettably, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has slowed down much-needed action on climate and food security. Gross violations of the UN Charter undermine the whole UN system and in this context, the EU calls upon all States to abide by their obligations under international law and ensure the protection of civilians in all conflicts.

Mr Chair,

UNIDO can deliver only if it has adequate resources to do so. EU Member States collectively contribute 29 % of all assessed contributions to UNIDO’s regular budget. The EU and its Member States also remain the largest donors of voluntary contributions from governmental sources, accounting for 39% of all voluntary contributions to UNIDO in 2023. Currently, the EU supports 41 UNIDO projects at the amount of 360 million EUR. They allow UNIDO to deliver on joint priorities such as sustainable supply chains, climate action, and ending hunger. Furthermore, three EU Member States were amongst the top five funding partners and five among the top 12 donors for UNIDO’s programmes in 2023.

Despite the continued calls of the Director General, the outstanding assessed contributions remain at too high level and are creating an unutilized balance which can result in the under-implementation of the approved programme.  We reiterate our call on all UNIDO Member States to pay their assessed contributions in full and on time. We encourage the Director General to continue his efforts to increase the collection rate in 2024.

We call on UNIDO to continue implementation of the programmes geared at achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women. Gender equality will not only foster more inclusive societies, but yields better outcomes for industries and business, boosts innovation, responds to labour shortage and contributes to overall sustainable development. Providing sufficient and predictable funding for the activities of the Unit for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women from UNIDO’s regular budget remains important. Progress is noted, but more needs to be done to ensure gender parity within the organisation, including at senior management level.  

The EU supports the reform of the UN Development System and in this context, we encourage further cooperation between UNIDO and other UN organisations and agencies.  We expect the UN system to “Deliver as One” at country level for maximum development impact. We acknowledge the progress made in this respect. 

I thank you for your attention.

[1] North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.