Vienna Chapter
Mr. President,
1. It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of the Group, to see you
again chairing this meeting. The Group is confident that your experience
and diplomatic skills will lead to a successful and fruitful conclusion of
this session. I also wish to avail myself, of this opportunity to express
the Group's appreciation for the arrangements of the meeting as well as
the provision of the necessary documentation by the Secretariat.
2. The Group of 77 and China welcomes the opening remarks of the
Director-General Mr. Carlos Magariños and assures him the Group's
continued support and cooperation in carrying out the mandate of the
UNIDO.
3. The Group would be making comments on the Agenda items 2 (e), 3
(a), (b), (c), (d), 5, 6 and 8 in the course of discussions on these
items. I would restrict my intervention to comment on item 3 for this
opening statement.
Mr. President,
1. The Group takes note of the document IDB.29/7 and would like to
thank the Secretariat for information that Member States received on the
enhanced security arrangements to enable the Vienna based Organizations to
comply with the Headquarters' Minimum Operating Standards being proposed
by UN Headquarters in New York.
2. The Group is aware of the urgency and importance of the Security
enhancement and of the share which has to be borne by UNIDO. In this
regard the Group has carefully evaluated the three options presented by
the Secretariat.
3. Due to the lack of voluntary contributions the Group considers
that the most suitable option under the exceptional circumstances is to
finance UNIDO's share for the initial phase through the supplementary
appropriations to be calculated according the scale of assessment for the
biennium 2004-2005 and the withdrawal of the amount from the working
capital fund as a temporary measure. The approved supplementary estimates
shall be included in the assessed contributions of Member States for the
biennium 2006-2007.
4. The Group of 77 and China is of the view that the unencumbered
balances of appropriation that are due for adjustment to the Members
States that have fully paid their contributions can be used by individual
Member States to cover the above amount. However, the Group expresses its
appreciation to Member States who have renounced their shares of
unencumbered balances of appropriation for Integrated Programmes and
country service frameworks and encourages other Member States to do so.
5. Since these proposals are linked only to the first phase, the
Group stresses that for the second and the third phases, if any, the
formulation of requirements for enhancing security measures in the Vienna
International Center, a cost estimate and possible funding mechanisms
should be decided by the UNIDO Secretariat only in close consultation with
Member States before submission to the United Nations General Assembly.
6. As for the new conference facility (called C2), the Group takes
note of the offer by the Austrian Government in this respect. However, the
Group would like to have an updated report, for the consideration of the
next IDB, on the rationale for additional conference room facilities for
UNIDO, and estimated additional costs to be borne by Member States with
regard to construction of C2, installation of equipments and maintenance
costs.
Thank you Mr. President.
Mr. President,
1. South-South cooperation is an essential means and a very valuable
tool of contributing to the national efforts for developing countries to
strengthen their economic development with a view to attaining the
Millennium Development Goals.
2. The Group of 77 and China notes with appreciation that cooperation
among developing countries has started to gain the interest among all
intervening parties.
3. The Group also believes that in order to strengthen economic and
technical cooperation among developing countries, priority should be given
to regional integration, trade and investment, agro-industry, energy,
water, health and education, information and communication technology.
4. The Group of 77 and China is quite aware that South-South
cooperation complements North-South cooperation as was discussed in the
high-level conference on South-South Cooperation held in Marrakech,
Morocco from 16 to 19 December 2003. This also involves triangular
cooperation arrangements where the know-how and technology of developing
countries are combined with financial support from developed countries to
provide assistance and to transfer technology and know-how to other
developing countries.
5. In this connection, the G-77 and China takes note with
appreciation that the Government of China will host the first South-South
Trade Forum in cooperation with UNDP, in 2005 in Beijing, China. The Forum
will serve as a platform for leaders in government and the private sector
to explore policy options for maximizing flows of South-South trade, joint
ventures and technology transfer. The focus of the Forum will be on
South-South trade policy, energy and trade, as well as information and
communications technology (ITC) and trade. The Group 77 and China urges
the Secretariat of UNIDO to actively participate in the forthcoming Forum
in Beijing.
6. Recalling the resolution GC.10/Res.4 on South-South cooperation,
the Group of 77 and China stresses the need to mobilize additional
resources as central to the enhancement of South-South cooperation as
referred to in resolution 57/263 of the General Assembly.
7. The Group also calls upon the Secretariat of UNIDO to spare no
effort to further promote South-South cooperation related projects and
activities and to strengthen the Organization's cooperation with other
specialized agencies such as the South Centre in Geneva, the Special Unit
for South-South Cooperation of the United Nations Development Programme,
the UNCTAD/WTO International Trade Center, the IAEA and donor countries.
8. In this regard, the Group would like to reiterate its request to
the Secretariat during the 28th session of the IDB for the creation of a
special facility for South-South Cooperation and calls upon other
international organizations and donor countries to increase all types of
contributions to UNIDO.
Mr. President,
1. The Group of G-77 and China would like to commend the Secretariat
for its special initiative towards post-crisis industrial rehabilitation
and reconstruction. The group also supports its handling of humanitarian
relief efforts and the restoration of productive capacities in fourteen
countries that have experienced man-made crisis or natural disasters as
highlighted on document IDB.29/11 and IDB.29/CRP.6. The efforts of UNIDO
will go hand in hand with promoting and sustaining economic growth and
social development of the affected areas.
2. The Group would like to be informed in more detail on the
significant developments that were expected to occur by mid-September 2004
concerning crucial programming activities for certain countries emerging
from post-crisis situations as pointed out by document IDB.29/11.
3. In this regards, the Group strongly recommends, that the
Secretariat continues its efforts in identifying areas in which UNIDO can
play a role, designing projects, mobilizing donor countries and also
involving, through initiatives of South-South cooperation and the
contribution of other developing countries already involved to the overall
recovery effort.
Mr. President,
1. The Group of G-77 and China carefully examined both documents
IDB.29/17 and IDB.29/CRP.4 dealing with decentralization, and the
implementation plan of the strategic alliance with UNDP. The Group takes
note of the signature of the cooperation agreement between UNIDO and UNDP
on September 23rd, 2004.
2. The Group supports the efforts undertaken so far by the
Director-General for a smooth and successful implementation of the
agreement according to the suggested time schedule in the plan, and
accordingly wishes to cooperate with him and the Secretariat to that end.
Furthermore, The Group would like to further stress on the following
elements to be given special consideration while starting the
implementation process:
(a) To ensure that the proposal for the Programme and Budget for the
biennium 2006-2007 would entail financing the 2nd year of the pilot phase
without any extra budgetary commitment, as it is envisaged for the 1st
year of implementation.
(b) Expansion of the field presence should contribute mainly to the
increase of technical cooperation delivery. Accordingly, due consideration
should be given to ensure the continuation of ongoing projects and
implementation of the Integrated Programmes.
(c) Conversion of any existing field offices into UNIDO desks during
the pilot phase should be done in close cooperation with the concerned
Member States.
(d) In spite of the useful and positive elements contained in the "Criteria
for selection and assessment of the effectiveness of UNIDO Desks",
the Group is of the view that further refinement of these criteria is
needed, in close consultation with Member States. The final version of the
implementation plan should take into account the result of these
consultations.
3. The International Developing Officer should have an international
exposure and the selection process should be based on competence,
efficiency and experience in the industrial sector. The training process
should be sufficient to produce results by the end of the pilot phase.
4. The Group wishes to be informed of the operational mechanisms that
have been designed to ensure coordinated work between the Desks and the
Regional Bureau. The Group believes that it is important to strengthen the
responsiveness capacity of the Regional Bureau to the needs of
effectiveness and efficiency in the execution of the programs and projects
in their covered region.
5. The Group strongly urges the Secretariat to continue reporting on
the progresses of the implementation of the Cooperation Agreement and to
consult with Member States on a regular basis. This will ensure effective
implementation of the Agreement and set the future activities on a
result-based management.
Mr. President,
1. The Group of 77 and China recalls with interest the deliberations
and the outcomes that were reached on adopting the strategic guidelines "Towards
improved UNIDO programme delivery". The Group wishes to reiterate
that it views these guidelines as an important contribution to the efforts
to make UNIDO a more efficient and effective organization, and in
particular for the formulation and implementation of the medium-term
programme frameworks 2004-2007.
2. The Group notes that the technical cooperation activities
implemented are in most cases needs driven and focused on areas where
UNIDO has a comparative advantage and encourages the Secretariat to
further pursue its efforts to ensure that the specific conditions and
needs of the countries and sub-regions are given priority in providing
UNIDO service.
3. The Group of 77 and China, in this regard, requests the
Director-General to keep Member States regularly informed and to report
thereon to the subsequent Board sessions.
Mr. President,
1. The Group of G-77 and China supports UNIDO's role in the
implementation of the decisions taken at the Global Biotechnology Forum
and encourages the strengthening of this initiative, in a manner to enable
Member States to establish and boost their own Biotechnology Promotion
Centers at the national and regional levels.
2. The Group believes that it is very important to have a follow-up
mechanism and welcomes the efforts undertaken so far by the Organization
in order to create a sustainable channel of dialogue on biotechnology,
with information networks and the development of scientific, technical and
entrepreneurial capacities. This follow-up must be based on existing good
practices, put technology at the service of economic and social
development, and call for coordination of the various countries' efforts
in the areas of biotechnology application, particularly in the field of
bio-industry".
Thank you Mr. President.
Mr. President,
1. The Group of 77 and China takes note of document IDB.29/14
containing the evaluation of several Integrated Programmes and stand alone
projects and calls on the Secretariat to continue the evaluation of the
remaining projects in order to have a comprehensive evaluation of the
UNIDO activities.
2. The Group believes that evaluation should achieve greater
effectiveness of UNIDO services and welcomes this important exercise. The
shortcomings identified by the Evaluation Group at various stages of
programme cycle - identification, formulation, fund mobilization,
implementation - should be noted for corrective action. These include
inadequate preparation, supply driven nature of programmes, lack of
clearly defined targets/baselines, problems with fund mobilization among
others.
3. The Group further takes note that the most successful UNIDO
projects in terms of implementation are those that aim at institutional
capacity building and that the UNIDO interventions are effective where the
Organization has been working with relatively strong counterparts that had
high degree of ownership, sense of direction and the capacity to absorb
UNIDO services. A multidisciplinary approach in terms of UNIDO service
modules appears more effective. The above findings, however, also
highlight the challenge faced by UNIDO to provide effective technical
cooperation delivery to LDCs, backward and poorer regions that lack strong
counterpart institutions with adequate absorption capacity.
4. The Group believes that inclusion of policy advice, where
relevant, statistical component for proper benchmarking and evaluation are
important in the context of improving competitiveness and productivity.
The observation regarding use of national expertise to the extent possible
to facilitate capacity building and sustainability of the UNIDO programmes
is also significant. The issue of evaluation feedback is also of
importance in ensuring a proper follow up of the recommendations and
future improvements.
5. The Group of 77 and China is concerned that the integrated
programmes did not receive enough funding and that donors had not yet
changed their project related funding approach even though the IP have
been designed for over four years. In this regard, the Group requests the
Secretariat to develop a comprehensive plan to enhance fund mobilization
as well as prospects for sharpening fundamental components of Integrated
Programmes. The Group is of the view that the comprehensive plan should
take into consideration that Intergrated Programmes and their funding be
based on need and relevancy to industrial and social development need of
developing countries.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
Mr. President,
1. The Group of 77 and China takes note of the information provided
in document IDB.29/15 and appreciates the efforts undertaken so far to
improve its representation within the Secretariat.
2. Nevertheless, the Group is still of the view that further
improvement can be done in this regard, in order to ensure more equitable
representation of professional staff as well as international consultants
among regional groups.
3. The Group would also like to ask the Secretariat to provide
clarification at a later stage regarding information contained in document
UNIDO/DGB/(M)93 dealing with other personnel matters.
Mr. President,
1. The Group of 77 and China takes note of the document IDB.29/16 in
which the Secretariat informs about the withdrawal of the offer made by
the Government of Colombia to host the eleventh session of the General
Conference at Cartagena de Indias. The Group understands the reasons which
led the Government of Colombia to take this decision and welcomes the
interest of Colombia to host a UNIDO General Conference in the future.
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