The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization
(UNIDO) is a multilateral technical assistance agency of the United Nations
General Assembly. It was established in 1966 and officially changed into a
specialized agency of the United Nations in June 1985. Headquartered in Vienna,
Austria. The task is "to help promote and accelerate the industrialization
of developing countries and coordinate the activities of the United Nations
system in industrial development". The aim is to promote the economic
development and industrialization of developing countries and countries with
economies in transition through technical assistance and industrial
cooperation.
In addition to being a global intergovernmental forum on
industrial issues, its main activity is to help a large number of developing
countries and countries with economies in transition improve their economic
competitiveness through a series of integrated services at the three levels of
policy, institution and enterprise To improve the environment and increase
productive employment.
The organization has the General Assembly as the highest
authority, which is convened every 4 years.
The Council is composed of 53
members elected from member countries and holds an annual meeting. There is
also the Program and Budget Committee and the Secretariat.
As of September
1996, UNIDO had established investment service offices in 12 countries. These
offices mainly provided services in project coordination, establishment of
joint ventures, financial assistance, technology transfer and marketing. (The
branches are located in: Athens, Manama (Bahrain), Beijing, Istanbul, Milan,
Moscow, Paris, Seoul, Tokyo, Warsaw, Zurich and Vienna).
Formation date: In 1966
Sexuality: Specialized
agencies in the United Nations system
Member States: 170
What is the Organization Structure of UNIDO?
UNIDO’s organizational structure includes the General
Assembly, the Industrial Development Council, the Programme and Budget
Committee and the Secretariat.
The UNIDO is the highest decision-making body of
the organization. It holds a plenary session every two years. It is attended by
all member countries and is responsible for discussing guidelines and policies
and making decisions.
Two regular meetings were held to consider major issues
such as administration, operations, personnel and financial budgets and submit
them to the General Assembly for approval.
The Program and Budget Committee is
a subsidiary body of the Council and holds an annual meeting to assist the
Council in preparing and reviewing work plans, budgets and other Financial
matters.
The main functions and tasks of the secretariat are to handle the
daily affairs of the organization. The Secretariat is composed of the Director
General and three Executive Directors and other staff.
UNIDO employs more than 600 staff at headquarters and other
field offices. UNIDO has 170 member countries, has regional or country
representative offices in 35 countries, and is pursuing decentralized reforms.
Through cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme, the
organization covers more than 80 countries.
In addition, the organization has
investment promotion offices in nine countries to form a unique global
investment and technology promotion network.
The current Director General Li
Yong (Vice Minister of the Ministry of Finance of China) was elected as the new
Director General on the 41st UNIDO Council on June 24, 2013 for a term of four
years.
Who is the Director General of UNIDO?
Li Yong (former Deputy Minister of Finance of China) if the current Director General of UNIDO.
On June 24, 2013, the 41st Council of the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization voted for the new Director-General.
The
candidate recommended by the Chinese government and Vice Minister of Finance Li
Yong won the election with an absolute advantage of 37 votes in the first round
of voting.
He was officially appointed as the seventh director-general of the
organization at the special conference held on June 28.
On June 25, the Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang
congratulated Li Yong on winning the election, and at the same time made a
statement that China’s nomination of candidates for the UNIDO Director-General
exemplified China’s commitment to international development, especially its
promotion Firm support for sustainable industrial development.
China and UNIDO have maintained good cooperative relations
for 40 years.
Through technical cooperation projects, UNIDO has not only
introduced advanced technology, management experience and some key equipment
for China, but also trained a large number of professional technicians for
China, which has effectively promoted the improvement of China's industrial
technology and economic and social development.
China has been actively
participating in UNIDO’s activities and has provided assistance within its
capacity.
Shen Danyang emphasized that in the future, China will further
strengthen cooperation with UNIDO and promote UNIDO to make greater
contributions to the sustainable development of global industry.
Development Path of United Nations Industrial Development Organization
During the Cold War, the western industrial countries
proceeded from their own political and economic interests and hoped to win the
cooperation of the vast number of developing countries, so they had to support
UNIDO with the purpose of helping the industrial progress of the developing
countries.
During this period, the amount of technical assistance provided by
the United Nations to developing countries through UNIDO increased rapidly.
By
1990, this number reached US $ 160 million, a 12-fold increase over the early
1970s.
However, with the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, the situation
of confrontation between East and West ceased to exist, and Western industrial
countries gradually lost interest in UNIDO’s activities.
In addition, UNIDO
itself also has many defects and problems. For example, business overlaps with
other UN agencies and the efficiency is not high, so they are constantly
criticized and accused by Western countries.
Although UNIDO took the lead in
carrying out large-scale reforms in the United Nations system since 1993 to
solve the above-mentioned problems, it still failed to change the fundamental
attitude of the Western countries towards it.
In 1993, Canada announced its
withdrawal from UNIDO, and the United States officially withdrew at the end of
1995.
Since the United States’ membership accounted for a quarter of the organization,
its withdrawal caused a serious crisis in the survival and development of
UNIDO. Therefore, some Western countries advocated the abolition of UNIDO or
the merger with other organizations, but they were strongly opposed by
developing countries led by the Group of 77.
The two sides conducted many
arduous consultations on the status and role of UNIDO, and finally retained
UNIDO’s status as an independent specialized agency. UNIDO has also reduced
its original six divisions to three divisions on the basis of adjusting its
work priorities and reducing the scope of activities.
Its biennial budget has
also been reduced by 20%. Its work focuses on promoting investment and trade
growth, Technology transfer, clean and sustainable industrial development and
other areas, and focus on the least developed countries.
After continuous
reforms in recent years, UNIDO’s finances and institutions have been
relatively stable.
What is UNIDO doing in the field of Investment and Technology Promotion?
In the field of investment and technology promotion, after 33
years of development, UNIDO has become an important part of the global
multilateral investment and technology and project financing system.
The
"Project Feasibility Study Report Preparation Manual", "Project
Evaluation Guide", "BOT Guide" and other specifications
formulated by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization are the
assessments of investment and financing activities carried out by most national
and regional governments and international business and financial circles.
Guidelines and basis.
The third-generation expert system model developed and
used by UNIDO for project feasibility analysis and reporting is an
authoritative software system for the international investment and financing
community as a standardized project analysis and evaluation.
The United Nations
Industrial Development Organization has formed a relatively complete
multilateral investment and technology promotion system around the world and
established a huge network of investment and technology promotion systems and
databases, which can quickly identify and timely and accurately transmit
international investment and technology market information.
Budget of UNIDO
UNIDO’s budget is divided into three parts: regular budget,
operating budget and voluntary contributions.
The regular budget comes from
Member States’ contributions.
The total regular budget for the 2006-2007
biennium is approximately 140 million euros.
Most of this budget is used for
UNIDO’s staff salaries and administrative expenses, and only 6% is used for
technical cooperation activities.
The operating budget is derived from project
management fee income, and the operating budget for the 2006-2007 biennium is
approximately 21 million Euro.
Voluntary contributions include contributions
from member states and international institutions, reaching US $ 62.8 million
in 2004.
Relations with China
In December 1972, China sent observers to the first UNIDO
Standing Committee for the first time. Since officially joining UNIDO in 1973,
China has been a member of the UNIDO Council.
Since joining UNIDO, I have
gradually established a good cooperative relationship with the organization.
China has always paid its dues on time, and at the same time provides a certain
amount of foreign exchange and RMB voluntary contributions to the Industrial
Development Fund (IDF) of the organization for various activities to promote
China's industrial and technological progress, and technical exchange
activities between China and other developing countries.
So far, the UNIDO
Fund (including convertible and non-convertible contributions) pledged by China
to UNIDO has accumulated to 10 million US dollars.
In 2007, I paid 2.23 million euros to UNIDO,
accounting for 2.987%, ranking seventh. All the directors-generals of the
organization have visited China upon invitation, and some have visited China
many times, and were received by our country's leaders.
China has four staff
members in UNIDO, the highest position is Liang Dan (female), director of the
investment department, D1 level.
According to statistics, the total amount of cooperation
projects between UNIDO and China under implementation is about US $ 50 million,
and its implementation accounts for about 1/5 of the organization ’s global
implementation and more than half of the implementation in the Asia-Pacific
region.
The content of the project involves the fields of environmental
protection, industrial management, investment and technology promotion, the
development of small and medium-sized enterprises, supply chain management and
comprehensive solutions. At the same time, UNIDO will also establish a
South-South Industrial Cooperation Center in China to promote cooperation with
developing countries such as Africa.
Through these projects, UNIDO not only
introduced advanced technology, experience and some equipment for our country,
but also invited a large number of international experts to serve me, and at
the same time provided various forms of training for a large number of
technical personnel in China and abroad.
China's industrial development and
progress have played an effective role in promoting.
As the executing agency of UNDP, Montreal Protocol, Global
Environment Facility and persistent organic pollutant projects, UNIDO has made
great contributions to the implementation of China ’s aid projects and the
promotion of China’s environmental protection.
In recent years, with the joint
efforts of the Chinese government and UNIDO, the two sides have in recent years
opened up the Trust Fund (TRUST FUND) project, which mainly involves
sustainable energy, investment promotion, supply chain management, and helping
small and medium-sized enterprises to improve their competitiveness.
According to data provided by UNIDO, since 1979, UNIDO has
carried out a total of 435 projects in China, totaling approximately US $ 264
million.
The UNIDO China Representative Office was established in 1979
and was promoted to a regional representative office in 2006.
Its jurisdiction
includes China, Mongolia, North Korea and South Korea. It is also responsible
for maintaining industrial development with the United Nations in China, Japan
and South Korea. Organize the liaison of the Investment and Technology
Promotion Office.
The representative office is a diplomatic institution.
Relationship with Technology Promotion Office
The China Investment and Technology Promotion Office of the
United Nations Industrial Development Organization is the resident business
organization of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization with
diplomatic status in China.
It provides comprehensive professional services for
multilateral investment, trade and technology promotion. It is not only
committed to the research, consulting and implementation support of national,
industrial and corporate globalization overall solutions.
It also undertakes
government policy and decision-making consultancy, international project
coordination organizers, international resource integration providers, project
or task implementation supporters, organizers of extensive and forward-looking
international forums and cooperation platforms, and many other roles.
Combining the characteristics of neutrality, multilateralism,
extensiveness and professionalism of the United Nations Industrial Development
Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s global
investment and technology promotion network is used to provide government
funds, enterprises and non-governmental organizations with project funds,
expert teams, solutions and international Assistance and support for platforms
and other aspects.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization's
China Investment and Technology Promotion Office, as the resident business
organization of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in
China, enjoys diplomatic status.
According to the purposes of the United
Nations Industrial Development Organization, it serves as a Technical
supporters, providers of professional knowledge, management skills, human
resources and financing channels will be committed to promoting China and other
member countries of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization to
achieve high-quality, efficient and constructive results in the above fields.
UNIDO Development Conference
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization
initiated and hosted the Global CEO Development Conference in 2011.
In 2012,
former Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Long Yongtu,
Chief Industrial Mark of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization
in the Asia-Pacific Region Covens, and Lenovo Chairman Liu Chuanzhi served as
joint Chairman.
In 2014, with the support of the Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology and the Shanghai Municipal Government, the "Global
CEO Development Conference" established a long-term mechanism for the
opening of the three meetings with the "Global City Informatization
Forum" and "China International Industry Fair".
In 2015, the 5th
Global CEO Development Conference will be held on November 3 at the Shanghai
International Convention Center.
On November 3, 2019, the 18th Congress of the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) opened in Abu Dhabi, the capital of
the United Arab Emirates.
The theme of this conference is "Industry
2030-Innovation, Unicom, and Reshape the Future". This conference,
co-hosted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the UAE
government, will focus on the key role played by inclusive and sustainable
industrial development in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. According to the UAE News
Agency, more than 800 officials or representatives from 170 UNIDO member
countries participated in the meeting.
Problems that UNIDO is facing
The main problem facing UNIDO is financial difficulties.
The
shortage of funds severely restricted its role in promoting industrialization
in developing countries.
The long-term arrears of some Member States have
caused the organization’s cash flow to be severely insufficient, and it has
had to repeatedly revise its programme of activities.
As of March 2000, of the
168 member countries, 67 countries had lost their voting rights due to arrears
of contributions, with a total of USD 141 million in arrears (including USD
61.8 million owed by the US).
UNIDO’s funds for technical cooperation are insignificant,
accounting for only about 6% of its regular budget. The budget for the
2000-2001 biennium was $ 132.9 million, and the funds for technical cooperation
were only $ 7.974 million.
The source of funds for technical cooperation mainly
depends on voluntary contributions. However, due to the indifference of Western
countries towards UNIDO, except for a few countries, the amount of voluntary
contributions provided by other donor countries has been declining year by
year.
Some countries such as Germany have already Voluntary contributions were
stopped two years ago. This situation severely restricts the development of
UNIDO.
UNIDO ’s ability to self-finance is limited. The
comprehensive programme for developing countries requires a total of US $ 224
million and only raised US $ 42 million. The assistance provided is far from
meeting the needs of developing countries.
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