BERLIN - The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Federal Republic of Germany have held a second Strategic Dialogue, following on from the successful results of the first one in November 2019. Since then, the world has changed significantly, but UNIDO and Germany have reaffirmed their strong partnership. Director General Gerd Müller led a high-level UNIDO delegation to the German capital to discuss the mapping of future cooperation.

 

During his opening remarks, State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth, representing the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), confirmed the successful engagement between UNIDO and Germany, and their joint commitment to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), above all SDG9 on industrialization and innovation.

 

Florian Laudi, Director for the United Nations and Counterterrorism at the German Federal Foreign Office, commended Director General Müller on the ambitious organizational reform agenda at UNIDO.

 

During the talks, the two parties agreed to widen and deepen cooperation on common priorities: sustainable supply chains, food security, digitalization, sustainable energy and the economic empowerment of women. UNIDO and Germany will begin developing new joint programmes in early 2023.

 

The first Germany-UNIDO strategic dialogue resulted in a cooperation roadmap, which delivered much success. A second roadmap is now being developed, and will be the foundation for joint work in 2023-2024.

 

In addition to the strategic talks, Director General Müller also signed two project agreements with German partners. With support from the BMZ, UNIDO will implement a project to accelerate local production of vaccines and essential medicines in Africa. With funding from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), UNIDO will launch the second phase of the Global Partnership for the Application of Hydrogen in Industry.