The key to keeping UNIDO effective is maintaining a culture of constant dialogue with our member states.

In this spirit, the Director General met with the ambassadors from the European Union. The EU Member States and UNIDO share a long history of successful partnership. They have been strong supporters of UNIDO, contributing important resources to some of our most successful activities.

It is very encouraging to see that our cooperation has been accelerating over the past years. UNIDO can look forward to renewed work together with the European Union and all its Member States to realize our shared goals. We must of course thank EU Ambassador Stephan Klement and the Swedish presidency of the EU Council for the great partnership. We have achieved much together, and we shall certainly achieve much more!

In the same sense, the Director General met with the Council of Arab Ambassadors. UNIDO has been promoting industrialization and economic diversification in the Arab world for decades now. Gerd Müller has already since his coming to office visited five Arab countries – Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar. The Arab world is a region with great potential, with a rich history, diverse cultures, important resources and a young and dynamic population. There is solid cooperation with UNIDO there, and we have ambitious future plans to expand for the benefit of all.

The Director General also addressed the Member States as to his proposals for the Programme and Budgets for 2024-25. The messages over the past year have been very clear: knowledge and technology transfer as well as new investment and innovation partnerships are critical! They are key to making countries future-proof and to putting them onto a sustainable growth path. The newly sharpened UNIDO priorities are clear, and we will pursue them with equally renewed focus – with the support of our Member States and partners!