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Statements in International Organisations

16.05.2008

UNIDO - 34th Session of Industrial Development Board: Agenda Item 7 and 8 (14 – 16 May 2008, Vienna)

Statement by the Republic of Slovenia on behalf of the European Union

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Thank you, Mr. President,

1. I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Croatia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia  and Turkey, the Countries of the Stabilization and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia, the EFTA country Norway, member of the European Economic Area, as well as Republic of Moldova, Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine, associate themselves with this statement.

Mr. President,

2. The European Union appreciates smooth implementation of Evaluation Group activities in the 2006-2007 biennium as well as EVA's response to ad hoc requests for evaluations. The EU notes EVA's efforts to increase the usefulness of evaluations and to feed evaluation findings and recommendations into managerial decision-making and strategic planning processes.

3. The EU notes meta-evaluation carried out in terms of a "Comparative Review of the Lessons Learned form 20 Integrated Programme Evaluations" and underlines the need to use these recommendations so as to optimize the design of new Integrated Programmes. The EU looks forward to receiving reports on continuing efforts of UNIDO to further improve UNIDO's system for monitoring, reporting and self-assessment.

4. The European Union appreciates the participation of UNIDO in the Joint Evaluation of the GEF Activity Cycle and Modalities. In line with this, the EU welcomes more effective GEF activity cycle and a more direct access of UNIDO to the GEF. We encourage UNIDO to continue to foster evaluation activities in collaboration with other organizations.

5. In regard to Agenda Item 8 I would like to thank the Director General and his staff for the useful and informative report on the Activities of the Joint Inspection Unit contained in IDB.34/4. The EU notes that many of the issues highlighted will have considerable impact on UNIDO in the coming years. It is helpful, therefore, to have the organisation's initial reactions to these important issues.

6. The EU is fully seized of the need to ensure adequate, predictable and timely core funding to UN agencies committed to reform. At the same time we acknowledge the need to improve the balance between core and non-core funding. In this context it is helpful to be reminded of the need to take into account multilateral funds such as the Montreal Protocol and the Global Environmental Facility; and the decentralized donor funding which is programmed at country level. We agree that these sources of funding need to be factored into the discussions of the intergovernmental working group which has been established to look into voluntary funding referred to in paragraph 4 of IDB.34/4. It would be helpful to have UNIDO's views on the best way of going about this.

7. The EU is aware of the need to assess and fund the accrued liabilities of the after-service health insurance scheme (ASHI). We welcome UNIDO's participation in the UN assessment of ASHI.  It is helpful to know that the introduction of IPSAS (International Public Sector Accounting Standards) in 2010 will make mandatory the recognition of accumulated liabilities in UNIDO's financial statements.  The EU looks forward to receiving, in due course, the Secretariat's guidance on proposals for funding the ASHI liabilities.

8. The EU notes the JIU recommendations aimed at achieving a more balanced age structure in the UN system. We welcome the steps that UNIDO has already taken to address this imbalance inter alia the introduction of the Young Professionals Programme earlier in 2008. The EU would encourage UNIDO to continue to take a pro-active stance in staff planning, particularly when considering retirements and field mobility.

9. On knowledge management within the UN system the EU welcomes UNIDO's plans to formulate its own knowledge management strategy, taking into account the CEB guidelines and available resources. We would welcome more detailed information on the planned search engine to facilitate interoperability of internets and databases across the UN system. In particular it would be helpful to know when these changes are likely to be implemented and to have some idea of what the likely cost might be.

10. Regarding the JIU work programme for 2008, the EU notes that a number of the topics listed would be directly relevant to UNIDO and would welcome more information on JIU issues in due course.

Thank you for your attention.

 

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Date: 26.05.2008