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26June - 2 July
UNIDOScope 2005 CONTENTS:
Kandeh Yumkella nominated as next UNIDO Director-General
Vienna Austria, 21 June 2005
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The 30th Session of UNIDO's Industrial Development Board (IDB) elected Kandeh Yumkella of Sierra Leone as their recommended candidate for the position of Director-General for 2006 - 2009, on 21 June, 2005 ( view or download Mr. Yumkella's CV).
The opening statement of UNIDO's Director-General, Carlos Magariños to the 30th Sesssion of the IDB is available here for viewing or downloading. The following files relating to the 30th Session of the IDB are also available here: Agenda; Documents; Schedule of events; and Journals.
Ministers and other high-level participants at the IDB included: the Africa Union's Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Ms. Elizabeth Tankeu; Bolivia's Vice Minister of Industry Commerce and Exports, Mr. G. Molina Sardan; Côte d’Ivoire's, Minister of Industry and Private Sector Development, M. Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio; Ghana's Deputy Minister of Trade & Industry, Mr. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw; Indonesia's Minister for Industry, Mr. Andung Nitimiharja; Madagascar's Minister of Industry, Mr. Oscar Andrianarison Sahobisoa; Senegal's Minister of Industry and Handicrafts, Mme. Bineta Samb BA; Slovakia's Secretary-General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Milan Tancar; Sri Lanka's Secretary, Ministry of Industry and Investment Promotion, Mr. U. Vidanapathirana; Syria's Minister of Industry, Mr. Mohammad Ghassan Tayara; and Uganda's Minister of Tourism, Trade and Industry, Mr. Daudi Migereko. View picture galleries of: high-level meetings with the UNIDO Director-General and scenes from IDB 30.
According to UNIDO's procedures for electing its Director-General, Mr. Yumkella is recommended by the IDB for appointment by the UNIDO General Conference, which will take place 28 November to 2 December, 2005.
After hearing that he had won the IDB nomination for Director-General by a landslide vote, Mr. Yumkella said to colleagues that his victory was "a victory for all of us, since I am one of you", and that "my main role is to provide the enabling environment so that you can perform at your best, have a passion for excellence and achieve results".
Invited by Ambassador Stelzer of Austria (Austria holds the Presidency of the 30th Session of the IDB) to address the IDB after the election, Mr. Yumkella, speaking without notes, referred to his vision statement (view or download vision statement) and said "of particular importance to me is page 15, my management philosophy ... I was trained ( my father, my ancestors were chiefs in Africa) that a good leader listens to his people. A good leader leads with humility. A good leader must believe in his people. ... UNIDO cannot be great without its staff. I want to inspire my staff. I want to challenge them. I warn my staff in this very first speech, I am from a country that is listed as one of the poorest in the world. I will challenge you to prove, that yes, you can deal with poverty alleviation, not in theory, but in practice." (a transcript of Mr. Yumkella's statement to the IDB is available here for viewing or downloading).
Mr. Yumkella asked the Board to see his vision statement as "a document for dialogue". "It is not set in stone, because development itself evolves over time." He asked member states to be open to new ideas, "because I believe today in the development world we must be willing to look at other paradigms of development. I say it here, because I am going to do it". He said he would also be putting a lot of emphasis on South-South cooperation and drew attention of member states of the importance of funding for UNIDO activities in general.
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Partnerships, whether in developing countries between the public and private sectors, whether between the UNIDO Secretariat and its member states or between the Director-General and his staff, is a theme running through the Yumkella vision. At the end of his statement to the Board, he drew the attention of member states to the banner he has at the beginning of his vision statement: "Together we can all make a difference" and said "When we discuss poverty alleviation, or industrial development, we must always remember it is about people. It is not an abstract concept. It is about people in my village. So let us be real, let us be practical. Theory must come to practice; practice must be financed well".
Kandeh Yumkella has been a Senior Advisor to the current Director-General, Carlos Magariños, since 2003. He joined UNIDO in 1996 as Special Advisor to the then Director-General, Mauricio de Maria y Campos. In the same year he became Director of the Africa and Least Developed Countries Regional Bureau, until 2000 when he went to Nigeria as UNIDO Representative and Director of the Regional Industrial Development Centre, a position he held until 2003.
Prior to joining UNIDO, between 1994 and 1995 he was Minister for Trade, Industry and State Enterprises of Sierra Leone. During his earlier career he occupied several academic and research positions in the United States. Mr. Yumkella has also co-authored numerous articles, books and staff papers on international trade and development issues. He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois. The CVs of all of the candidates who were nominated for the position of Director-General are available here for viewing or downloading.
The Industrial Development Board is composed of 53 Member States and reviews the implementation of UNIDO’s work programme, the regular and operational budgets and, every four years, recommends a candidate for Director-General to the General Conference for appointment. The current members of the IDB are: Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Lesotho, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. The procedure for the recommendation and appointment of the Director-General is outlined in Rule 61 of the IDB Rules of Procedure and Rules 100, 103 and 104 of the General Conference Rules of Procedure.
In addition to nominating Mr. Yumkella as UNIDO's next Director-General, the 30th Session of the IDB also: reviewed the implementation of the Cooperation Agreement with UNDP; developed the UNIDO strategic long-term vision statement; considered recommendations of the Programme and Budget Committee on a number of issues, including the programme and budgets for the biennium 2006-2007; reviewed the activities of the Joint Inspection Unit, personnel matters and implementation of the medium-term programme framework.
Jeannine Orlowski, Tel: +431 26026 / 3599 Email: J.Orlowski@unido.org Kandeh Yumkella, Tel: +431 26026 / 3107 Email: K.Yumkella@unido.org
UNIDO Goodwill Ambassadors Baccini and Hara
Vienna Austria, 20 June 2005
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Mario Baccini, Minister of Public Administration of Italy and Reinosuke Hara, former President and CEO of Seiko Instruments Inc., and current Representative of the Hayama Capital Inc. were appointed by UNIDO Director-General Carlos Magariños as UNIDO Goodwill Ambassadors at a special ceremony prior to the opening of the 30th Session of the UNIDO Industrial Development Board.
Mario Baccini, Minister of Public Administration of Italy, has been a member of the Italian Parliament since 1994. His political and administrative career includes positions such as: Secretary to the President of the Chamber of Deputies, the Chamber’s observer for the OSCE in Bosnia and Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Baccini is also an author, as well as founder and president of the Foedus Foundation for promoting Italian culture and solidarity abroad and Chairman of the Italian Committee on Microcredit promoted by the United Nations.
Reinosuke Hara started his career in the United Nations as a scientific secretary for the UN Conference, Atoms for Peace and the following year joined the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. After working 10 years at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, he joined Seiko Instruments Inc. (Tokyo) holding executive positions including president, CEO and vice-chairman. From 1997 to 2003 he was President of the Advanced Technology Institute Foundation and is currently its Senior Advisor. Director-General Magariños presented a commendation to Mr. Hara in 2001 for his contributions to UNIDO at the UNIDO Forum in Tokyo on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO Tokyo). Mr. Hara was a member of UNIDO's International Business Advisory Committee (IBAC). He established Hayama Capital Inc. in 2001 as an organization to invest in high-tech ventures and is active with both academic and business communities. Mr.Hara received honours and awards from various institutions, governments and universities.
Messrs. Baccini and Hara join UNIDO Goodwill Ambassadors Peter Sutherland, (see UNIDOScope 6 -12 March 2005) Mamadou Mansour Cama, Sir Ronald Grierson (see UNIDOScope 17 - 23 October, 2004), Long Yongtu and Jorge Alberto Blanco Villegas (see UNIDOScope 12 - 18 Dec). The UNIDO Goodwill Ambassadors have been selected on the basis of their experience with the private sector and international trade and with regard to geographical region. They will raise awareness of the strong links between the poverty alleviation aspects of economic growth, private sector development, and participation in international trade. Adrie de Groot, Tel: +431 26026 / 5356 Email: A.DeGroot@unido.org
Slovenia moves to donor status with UNIDO
Vienna Austria, 22 June 2005
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Ernest Petric, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the United Nations in Vienna, and UNIDO Director-General Carlos Magariños signed an agreement on 22 June 2005, at the organization’s headquarters in Vienna, by which Slovenia becomes a donor country to UNIDO.
The agreement provides a broad range of criteria from a geographical and regional point of view and areas of intervention. The new donor will be allocating funds for UNIDO supported projects in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro as a first priority, but also in the newly independent states that have emerged from the former USSR.
Among the areas in which the cooperation is foreseen are: capacity building and enterprise development, environment, research and high technology, clean and efficient energy related programmes, food safety and processing.
Under the agreement, (view or download agreement) Slovenia will be making special purpose contributions to the Industrial Development Fund. UNIDO will select, review and in consultation with the donor, approve the projects to be financed by the contributions in the countries and areas mentioned above.Adrie de Groot, Tel: +431 26026 / 5356 Email: A.DeGroot@unido.orgcoming events
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