EU Statement on UNIDO's Annual Report of the Director General for 2025, 22 June 2026

Madam 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, Norway, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.

Madam Chair,

I congratulate you on your election H.E. Ms. Matilda Aku Alomatu Osei-Agyeman, Permanent Representative of Ghana, and other bureau members. You have our full support. And thank the outgoing Chair, Mr. Jorge Luis Hidalgo Castellanos, and the other outgoing Bureau members for their successful stewardship of the Committee. 

The EU and its Member States commend the Director General and UNIDO staff for the strong results presented in the Annual Report for 2025, including a 31% increase in net approvals of voluntary contributions corresponding to EUR 407 million, and a 15% increase in technical cooperation delivery, reflecting a cumulative increase of 87% since 2021. 

We acknowledge the outcomes of the 21^st session of the General Conference in 2025, including the Riyadh Declaration and the resolutions on circular economy, the energy-industrialisation nexus in Africa, gender equality, and food security, and welcome the ongoing efforts towards their effective implementation.

EU support for UNIDO programmes reached EUR 61 million in 2025, contributing to achieve these results with the goal to promote inclusive and sustainable industrial transition and growth, enhanced trade competitiveness and market access, renewable and energy efficiency, circular economy, and food safety and security. 

Further, five EU Member States are among the top 10 providers of voluntary contributions and four among the top 10 providers of assessed contributions in 2025. The Third Regional Conference for Emerging Development Partners in the EU, held in April, also highlighted the important contribution of these EU Member States, in support of UNIDO work thanks to their innovative industrial base.

Madam Chair,

We commend UNIDO and Austria on the successful organisation of the International Vienna Energy and Climate Forum, and note UNIDO’s expanding work in clean energy and inclusive and sustainable industrial transformation. We also recognize UNIDO’s growing role in advancing fair and sustainable global supply chains, including through initiatives such as the FairShare Programme, the expansion of the Global Alliance for Responsible and Green Minerals, and the Advancing Climate-resilience and Transformation in African Coffee Programme, with increasing engagement from the EU and several EU Member States. 

Madam Chair,

We note the attention given to outstanding assessed contributions and the importance of sustaining stronger liquidity for programme implementation. We commend the high collection rate of 94.8% and encourage Member States to maintain this positive performance by continuing to pay their assessed contributions in full and on time, and we encourage continued efforts by the Director General to improve collection rates. 

We stress the importance of strong governance, transparency, and oversight. We note the work of the Office of Evaluation and Internal Oversight (EIO) and the Independent Oversight Advisory Committee (OAC), and efforts to strengthen accountability frameworks, including the People Strategy 2026-2028.

We invite UNIDO to strengthen the EIO’s three core functions, including investigation capacity. We also look forward to contributing to the review of the EIO policy framework and Charter, by the end of 2026.

We note progress in ethic management and accountability in 2025, drawing notably on the recommendations of the European Union’s Pillar Assessment on the protection of personal data protection and external audit on the risks of fraud and corruption.

We commend the 86% implementation of the Management Action Plans (MAPs), which contributed to improve risk management, accountability, and Result Based Management, while recalling EIO recommendations to strengthen the IT access control, the risk assessment methodology for financial mechanisms and full implementation of the workforce planning. We also recall the OAC’s call to better reflect the results and outcomes in light of rapidly increasing technical cooperation delivery.

Madam Chair,

We underline the importance of UNIDO’s work on gender equality and women’s empowerment. We note that 71% of UNIDO’s work now contributes to gender equality and empowerment of women, and that UNIDO has achieved a 94% compliance rate with the UN System-wide Action Plan on Gender Equality for the third consecutive year. This is a strong achievement that should be sustained and further strengthened. We congratulate UNIDO on the successful first observance of the International Day of Women in Industry. Predictable funding for gender equality functions remains essential, alongside continued progress towards gender parity, including at senior levels. 

Madam Chair,

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

Finally, on behalf of my own Delegation, I would like to congratulate you Director-General, and indeed all of us, on the return of the United Kingdom to UNIDO. This is truly great news and a turning point for UNIDO. It shows that UNIDO is on the right track.

Thank you. 

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