Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.

Chair,

I congratulate you on your election and would like to thank the outgoing Chair and other Bureau members for their successful stewardship of the PBC. 

The EU and its Member States reiterate their support for UNIDO Director General Gerd Müller and his re-election at the Riyadh General Conference in November. We commend the Director General and UNIDO staff for the impressive results presented in the Annual Report for 2024 in particular the 29% increase in technical cooperation delivery and the record increase of 102% in funds mobilisation for programmes and projects. We also welcome the significant efficiency gains and cost savings that have been made over the past years.

UNIDO’s core functions must be commensurate with the ambitious goals set forth for the next biennium, notably an annual growth of 20-25% in technical cooperation delivery. We believe that an adequate increase in the operational budget and horizontal flexibility will provide the organisation with further means to modernise and significantly fast track the sustainable industrialisation of UNIDO Member States, in particular developing countries. 

As mentioned, UNIDO can only deliver if it has adequate resources to do so. The European Union’s financial support for the implementation of UNIDO programmes reached a record high of close to 60 million euros in 2024, a 44% increase from 2023. The total value of the ongoing EU-funded UNIDO activities is now amounting to nearly 320 million euros. Furthermore, four EU Member States feature among the top 10 providers of voluntary contributions and four among the top 10 providers of assessed contributions in 2024. 

These resources allow UNIDO to deliver on joint priorities in all regions. Our focus remains on the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, boosting Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises' competitiveness and compliance with market access requirements, promoting circular economy and the adoption of digital technologies, rolling out renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions, fostering sustainable supply chains and value addition including agri-food systems which are key for ensuring food security, as well as skills development.

We welcome the fact that 69% of the UNIDO projects contributed to gender equality, in accordance with SDG 5. We call on UNIDO to continue implementation of the programmes geared at achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment. Gender equality will not only foster more inclusive societies, but yields better outcomes for industries and businesses, boosts innovation, responds to labour shortages and contributes to overall sustainable development. 

Providing sufficient and predictable funding for the activities of the Division 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. 

We encourage all UNIDO Member States to join consensus on the draft Decision allowing budget flexibility for the period 2025-2027, similar to other UN organisations. Horizontal flexibility is required for the operational budget to increase expenditure on technical cooperation, and vertical flexibility for the regular budget, to allow transfers between major objects of expenditure within the approved results areas, and facilitate results-based budget implementation.

We welcome the ongoing development of the Medium-Term Programme Framework for 2026-2029. The EU was pleased to provide its written inputs and encourage further progress with an Integrated Results and Performance Framework, based on SMART indicators.

We welcomed the information on the status of implementation of Management Action Plans and look forward to their further active implementation in response to the assurance review by the Office of Evaluation and Internal Oversight and the Independent Oversight Advisory Committee’s report. 

We expect that a reformed and strengthened UNIDO will be better equipped to support its Member States in addressing the global crises which have put sustainable development at risk. Gross violations of international law undermine the whole UN system and in this context, the EU calls upon all States to abide by their obligations and ensure the protection of civilians in all conflicts.

Chair,

The EU supports the reform of the UN Development System and encourages further cooperation between UNIDO and other UN organisations and agencies. We acknowledge the progress made, notably a significant increase in UNIDO’s technical cooperation activities resulting from inter-agency cooperation. We expect the UN system to “Deliver as One” at country level for maximum development impact.

Thank you.