Rede von Botschafter Thomas Matussek, Ständiger Vertreter der Bundesrepublik Deutschland bei den VN New York

40^th Anniversary of UNIDO

Reception Fri. March 16^th, 2007

1.    The last 40 years have been a success story for UNIDO, marked by major challenges and rapid responses.

Founded as a United Nations development programme, UNIDO reacted quickly to the needs of developing countries for sustainable industrial development and reinvented itself some years later as a UN specialized agency.

Finding itself in a crisis which would have sounded the death knell for many organizations, UNIDO not only embraced the challenges, but emerged from the crisis with renewed strength.

Hardly any other organization has had to weather such severe staff cutbacks and yet still been able to expand its programmes and increase its investment of resources. Today, productivity is greater than before the crisis during the 1990s, despite fewer staff.

2.    We, Germany and the EU, have supported UNIDO with constructive criticism along this path. The level of financial support we give to the organization demonstrates the considerable importance we attach to sustainable industrialization of developing countries.

Within the EU intensive consultations are generating a productive two-track approach. A coordinated Community stance is the general rule, but individual Member States often adopt national positions which go beyond the agreed Community contributions. Together, the EU partners provide around three quarters of the UNIDO budget, and the trend is increasing.

3.    UNIDO shows that it is possible to pursue goals efficiently in spite of budgetary restrictions. In some areas, particularly in the discussions concerning the new United Nations Development Assistance Framework, UNIDO is setting standards and showing its profile in promising fields. In the context of the debate on the High-Level Panel on System-Wide Coherence, UNIDO organized a successful conference on the subject of resident coordinators in Vienna, the findings of which were incorporated into the panel's final report.

The UNIDO-UNDP Cooperation Agreement is paving the way for cooperation within the UN system and has the potential to redefine the focus of UN assistance. Another symposium will be held in Vienna in the near future to evaluate this programme.

4.    After 40 years UNIDO is in good shape. Concentration on a few essential areas as well as the development of comparative advantages particularly in the fields of energy, energy efficiency, environmentally compatible manufacturing methods, production of generic drugs, trade capacity building and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is a combination ideally suited to the needs of developing countries.

We were especially clear in expressing our support for UNIDO and Director-General Yumkella during the latter's visit to the Federal Republic of Germany. We intend to maintain our cooperation with UNIDO, which we have expanded to include trust fund projects, and look forward to the next 40 years and beyond.