Vienna Chapter
Mr. President, H.E. Ambassador István Horváth,
On behalf of the Group of 77 and China, I would like to congratulate you
and the members of your bureau, on your election. I would also like to
convey the Group's support in the discharge of your mandate. I also wish
to convey our appreciation to H.E. Ambassador Pirooz Hosseini of The
Islamic Republic of Iran, for the excellent manner in which he guided the
work of the last sessions. We also wish to commend the Director-General,
Mr. Carlos Magariños, for his wise leadership and to thank him for
his useful opening remarks. We would like to express our satisfaction to
the Secretariat for the timely manner they prepared the session's
documents.
Mr. President, I would like to express the views of the Group of 77
and China on the following items of our agenda: Item 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, in
due time.
The Group of 77 and China takes note of the document IDB.25/2 on the
Annual Report of the Director-General and commends the Secretariat for the
activities undertaken in 2001 to implement the mandate of UNIDO. While
recognizing the relevance of the Global Forum activities, the Group is of
the view that these activities should be result-oriented with the view to
strengthening and improving the Technical Cooperation Programme. In this
regard the Group takes note of the Secretariat's initiative to organize a
global forum on biotechnology and welcomes the offer made by the
Government of Chile to host this important event at the city of Concepción,
in September 2003. In order to achieve the development goals set by the
Millennium declaration the Group is of the view that UNIDO should
strengthen its cooperation with relevant partners to assist developing
countries enhance their industrial capacities.
Mr. President,
South-South cooperation is an important tool for strengthening the
economic growth of developing countries and for ensuring their equitable
and effective participation in the emerging global economic order. We
therefore, commend the Secretariat for its active participation in the
tenth meeting of the Intergovernmental Follow-up and Coordination
Committee on Economic Cooperation among Developing Countries, held by the
Group at Teheran in August last year, and we urge the Secretariat to
ensure the necessary follow-up of the decision adopted therein.
Mr. President,
We note with interest the activities related to Investment Promotion
and Institutional Capacity Building because the strengthening of the
industrial capacity in developing countries is crucial for combating
marginalization and reducing poverty. However, it is acknowledged that
lack of finance remains a major problem for SMEs development. We welcome
the Secretariat's initiatives at enhancing close cooperation with the
private sector equity funds in order to contribute to bridging the gap
between financial services and business development services provided to
SMEs.
The G-77 and China notes UNIDO's increased activities in the
framework of GEF and other organizations, through which additional funds
are available to implement its programmes and projects. We therefore urge
UNIDO to continue its efforts in this regard. Moreover, the Group
considers that UNIDO should exert sustained efforts to incorporate
environmental considerations into industrial policies and programmes.
Concerning UNIDO's sectoral support activities in food, leather,
textile, wood and in the agricultural sectors, we urge that these
activities be further strengthened so as to yield greater impacts to
competitive economy, sound environment and productive employment, greatly
espoused by the Organization.
On the issue of effective field representation, the Group is of the
view that the current situation of the field offices and their
contribution to technical cooperation delivery needs to be more dynamic,
aimed at facilitating delivery of integrated programmes/projects in the
developing countries. The Group also attaches great importance to
coordination between Headquarters and the UNIDO field offices and urges
for further improvement in this regard.
Mr. President,
We regard performance management as central to the ability of the
Organization to discharge its mandate. The availability of adequate
financial resources to UNIDO, unfortunately, still precarious, is the key
to the Organization's success. It is only after the Integrated Programmes
have been successfully implemented that the Member States would actually
benefit from the "new reformed UNIDO". We are concerned that
after almost four years since the preparation of the Integrated Programmes
with the amount of nearly $ 257 million only about $ 81 million has been
realized, leaving $ 175 million still open for funding. We note a slight
increase of approvals for the Technical Cooperation Funds from $ 76.9
million (2000) to $ 85.6 million (2001). However, the amount is far below
the $ 120 million and $ 105 million approved for 1996 and 1997
respectively. In this regard the Group of 77 and China wishes to reiterate
its call to all Member States to provide the necessary funds for the
Organization to implement the approved and ongoing Integrated Programmes.
The G-77 and China notes with appreciation the improved collection
rates of the assessed contributions and the cost reduction in some areas
of expenditure by the Organization. Similarly we also appreciate the
efforts of the Organization at modernizing its management practices, which
in our view is a welcome development. However, care should be taken to
ensure that these efforts translate to increased efficiency and staff
confidence. While we recognize the need to continue the efforts at
innovation and learning, and improved internal process to enhance
performance management, we find the "objective indicators" in
figure 13 on page 53 of the English version, requires some improvement.
The Group of 77 and China takes note of the information contained in
documents IDB.25/6 and IDB.25/2 on the financial situation of UNIDO, and
expresses its satisfaction with UNIDO's improved position, as compared to
previous years. It is encouraging to note that a better situation today
prevails both with regard to the operational budget, which registered a
surplus of Euro 1.6 million and the regular budget were the cash resources
reached Euro 34.7 million in the first quarter of the current year.
Positive growth in collection rate of the assessed contributions has in
turn resulted in a higher implementation of the regular budget during the
biennium 2000-2001. In this regard, support of Member States and the
Secretariat's efforts to maintain financial stability of the Organization
are considerable.
We urge the Secretariat to continue its endeavors to recover the long
outstanding contributions owed by some Member and Non-Member States. We
should not lose sight of the fact that since 13 May 2002, 57 Member States
had lost their voting rights owing to non-payment of dues, one of which is
one IDB member and a member of the PBC. The Secretariat may start
negotiations with those Members to bring them back into the main stream
keeping in view the particular circumstances in each case. Cooperation of
Member States in arrears would also be required in this regard.
The Group of 77 and China notes with interest the activities undertaken
by the Investment and Technology Promotion Offices (ITPO), and
acknowledges that they have been created to strengthen their capacities in
attracting investment for industrial projects. The assistance which these
offices can provide to developing countries to assist them in the
acquisition of new technologies and in establishing sustainable mechanisms
for the promotion of business alliances is most valuable.
Bearing in mind these comments the G-77 takes note of the proposed
guidelines contained in document IDB.25/4.
The Group of 77 and China takes note of document IDB.25/3 on UNIDO
involvement in major international conferences and commends the
Secretariat for its active participation in the International Conference
on Financing for development held in Monterrey in March 2002 and its
preparatory process. The Group of 77 and China wishes to benefit in the
coming months from the two initiatives proposed by the Secretariat on
venture capital and the one on enabling developing countries to
participate in international trade by strengthening supply capacity.
The Group also commends the participation of the Secretariat in the
preparatory process for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, in
particular UNIDO's support to the preparation of 18 national overview
reports on the contribution of industry to sustainable development and on
programmes facilitating the transfer of environmentally sound technology.
We are of the view that international cooperation on technology
transfer is crucial for implementing a successful sustainable development
programme, we encourage the Secretariat to continue its activities to
assess needs in areas of technology transfer.
Finally, the Group also wishes to underscore the symbiotic
relationship between the outcome of the International Conference on
Financing for Development with the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg this August.
The Group notes with appreciation the efforts undertaken by the
Secretariat, concerning the report of the JIU on the United Nations system
support for science and technology in Latin America and the Caribbean in
document (JIU/REP/2001/2), and evaluates positively the contribution of
UNIDO in the field of science and technology for development. The Group of
77 and China is of the view that further strengthening of the UNIDO's
internal capacity and mobilization of funds and probably establishment of
connection with Global Forum activities could strengthen the position of
the Organization. On the basis of the experiences and capacities of UNIDO
in setting up of linkage between science and technology with productive
sector, it could have a leading role for coordination and integration of
the support programmes and services of the United Nations Organization.
Since the Board's approval of the pilot system of UNIDO follow-up to
JIU recommendations, report on enhancing governance oversight role in
document (JIU/REP/2001/4) represents the first report. Based on the
functions of the legislative organs as specified in the Constitution, IDB
supported by the PBC which exercises the oversight role, the Group is of
the view that the Board's authority is sufficient to carry out effectively
its oversight function.
Mr. President, the Group of 77 and China commends the
Director-General for the successful transformation of UNIDO and urges the
Secretariat to use the newly-won stability of the Organization to
implement fully the portfolio of technical cooperation in the line of the
medium-term programme adopted during the ninth session of the General
Conference.
The Group maintains that the most effective means of reducing global
poverty and attaining economic growth and productivity are through
Industrialization. Given its comparative advantage over the other UN
Organizations, UNIDO is the most relevant and significant institution for
assisting developing countries in their efforts to build industrial
capacities and meet the challenges of globalization. Finally, the G-77 and
China urges all Member States to increase their political commitment and
financial resources to the Organization to ensure the implementation of
its mandate.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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