General Conference, Seventh session

Annotated Agenda, Item 11-20

Item 11. Industrial Development Fund

Information on the activities of the Fund is included in the annual reports of the Organization for 1995 and 1996 and in documents IDB.16/3 and IDB.18/9. Following the precedent established in previous sessions of the Conference in order to save time and money, the pledges to the Fund in 1997 will be made in writing, and the results announced at the end of the seventh session of the General Conference.

Item 12. Financial Regulations of UNIDO

The Financial Regulartions of UNIDO approved by the General Conference at its second session (decision GC.2/Dec.25) were subsequently amended as follows:

At its fifteenth session, in decision IDB.15/Dec.3 on implementation of the programme and budgets, 1996- 1997, the Board decided "to review the provisions of financial regulations relating to the budgeting process with a view to assuring the necessary flexibility, by recommending, when necesssary, to the General Conference the amendment of those provisions in order to facilitate the adoption of revised estimates and adjustments of approved budgets between regular sessions of the Conference as well as to ensure adequate budgetary control on the transfer of appropriations among major programmes." In a report to the Board on financial regulations (IDB.16/6), the Director-General proposed a first set of amendments.

An informal working group established by the Board in decision IDB.16/Dec.9 and chaired by Mr. F. Mayrhofer-Grünbühel (Austria) examined the proposals and reported to the Board at its eighteenth session through the Programme and Budget Committee (IDB.18/8-PBC.13/6). Based on the recommendations of the working group, the Committee recommended that the Board submit to the General Conference for consideration and adoption the amendments to financial regulations 3.4(a), 5.1(d), 5.2(b), 10.1(b), 10.2(a) and 10.2(c), as set out in the texts contained in the annex to PBC conclusion 97/3.

The Conference will thus have before it the recommendations of the Board based on Programme and Budget Committee conclusion 97/3.

Item 13. Medium-term programme framework, 1998-2001

In decision GC.6/Dec.10, the Conference took note of the medium-term plan, 1996-2001, as submitted in accordance with General Conference decision GC.2/Dec.23 and contained in document IDB.13/19. The Conference decided in future to rename the "medium-term plan" the "medium-term programme framework", and to reduce its coverage to four years. The Conference further decided, in light of Board decision IDB.14/Dec.27, that in the event that the cash resources availability for the biennium 1996-1997 changed significantly resulting in a curtailment of the assumptions contained in document IDB.14/29, to present a revised version of the medium-term programme framework

Pursuant to General Conference decisions GC.2/Dec.23 and GC.6/Dec.10, the Director-General submitted to the Board in the first year of the fiscal period 1996-1997, through the Programme and Budget Committee, a draft medium-term programme framework for the years 1998-2001 (IDB.16/23). In compliance with subparagraph (b)(v)d of decision GC.2/Dec.23, the Director-General also submitted a preview of the first biennium 1998-1999 and preliminary indicative general ceiling (IDB.16/23/Add.1). At its sixteenth session, the Board recommended to the Conference the approval of the draft medium-term programme framework, 1998- 2001, as contained in that document (decision IDB.16/Dec.12).

Item 14. Programme and budgets, 1998-1999

In accordance with Article 14.4 of the Constitution, the Conference shall consider and approve the programme of work and the corresponding regular budget and operational budget submitted to it by the Board, by a two-thirds majority of the Members present and voting. The Conference will thus have before it the recommendations of the Board related to the programme and budgets, 1998-1999. Such recommendations will be adopted by the Board at its resumed eighteenth session and will be based on a PBC conclusion to be adopted at its resumed thirteenth session.

Item 15. Development of human resources for industry

At its sixth session, the Conference in resolution GC.6/Res.4 requested the Director-General to implement a number of specific measures in UNIDO activities for development of human resources for industry. The Conference further requested the Director-General to report on the implementation of that resolution through the Industrial Development Board.

Item 16. Integration of women in industrial development

Resolution GC.6/Res.5 adopted by the Conference at its sixth session reaffirmed the renewed importance of the integration of women in industrial development in the context of the UNIDO response to the Platform for Action: Equality, Development and Peace, adopted at Beijing at the Fourth World Conference on Women. The resolution contained also a number of specific requests to the Director-General, including the development of a specific follow-up plan of action for UNIDO. The documentation on the item includes references to activities undertaken within the follow-up plan of action for UNIDO developed by the Secretariat.

Item 17. Environmentally sustainable industrial development

In addition to endorsing Board decision IDB.13/Dec.7, the Conference at its sixth session in resolution GC.6/Res.6 requested the Director-General to develop a technical cooperation programme to support developing countries in enabling them to effectively apply relevant ISO standards. The Conference also requested the Director-General to provide assistance to developing countries to enable them to support the necessary adjustment of national industrial production and related services to the internationally agreed eco-labelling requirements.

Item 18. Industrialization of the least developed countries

In adopting resolution GC.6/Res.8 at its sixth session, the General Conference called upon the Member States, the international community and the Director-General to address specific aspects related to the industrial development of the least developed countries. In the same resolution, the Conference requested the Director-General to provide progress reports on the implementation of the programme to the sessions of the Board. In compliance with that request, reports were submitted to the Board at its fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth sessions. As requested in paragraph 3 (c) of resolution GC.6/Res.8, the Conference will have before it a report by the Director-General on the implementation of that resolution.

Item 19. Private sector development

At its sixth session, the General Conference adopted resolution GC.6/Res.9, which contained preambular text linking the role of the private sector with various aspects related to industrial development. The Conference also requested the Director-General, in the implementation of the UNIDO programme for private sector development, industrial restructuring, rehabilitation and modernization, to take certain measures specified by the Conference.

Item 20. Industrial investment promotion

In its consideration of agenda item 15 on preparations for the seventh session of the General Conference, the Board at its sixteenth session agreed to include an additional agenda item entitled "Industrial investment promotion" in the list of items of the draft provisional agenda for the seventh session of the Conference (GC.7/3, para. 39).