VIENNA, 13 April 2022 – UNIDO Director General Gerd Müller held a dialog with the Organization’s Member States of the Western European and Others Group and called on them to scale up their efforts in knowledge and technology transfer from industrialized countries to the rest of the world to facilitate economic and social development that would be beneficial to everyone involved.

He pointed out the consequences of climate change, the armed conflict in Ukraine, and the still ongoing pandemic which has led to a dramatic rise in energy and food prices.

The Director General said he has initiated a reform process and new thematic priorities that will address the contribution of the Organization in such a way that we tackle these crises, together with our partners and Member States.

Müller pointed out the “unacceptable” fact that according to new OECD data, worldwide investment in international development is in fact less than half of the ODA target of 0.7%. Müller emphasized that economic cooperation is, above all, a form of partnership, and appealed for “new partnerships: a strong multilateral approach, fair trade relations and global investments and we cannot do this alone.”

UNIDO will continue to lead the development and implementation of roadmaps for cooperation and is committed to taking on an even bigger role as the coordinator of partnerships between people, governments and business around the world.