“Industrial development is essential to strengthen economies, fight poverty and create jobs and prosperity,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his message at the event, delivered by the senior UN official in Saudi Arabia, Mohamed El-Zarkani.
Lift the burden of poverty
Delegates from governments, the private sector and civil society arrived in the Saudi capital for the week-long event at a delicate time for struggling economies: several rich countries have cut spending on development aid. The COP30 Climate Conference, which ended on Saturday, laid bare the magnitude of the climate crisis, which is an existential threat to some nations, particularly small island developing states.
Guterres urged governments and businesses to join forces to alleviate these burdens by scaling up sustainable industrialization – adopting cleaner, more resource-efficient technologies, improving infrastructure and ensuring that industrial development does not come at undue social or environmental cost – an important recommendation of the Compact for the Future, the United Nations blueprint for international cooperation, peace and development.
The summit serves as the 21st General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), which is dedicated to promoting inclusive and sustainable industrial development that reduces poverty, promotes economic competitiveness and supports environmental sustainability in developing countries.
Discussions at this year’s conference, UNIDO’s highest decision-making body, will focus on three main themes: how to reduce emissions and support renewable energy; ending hunger through agribusiness innovation to improve food security; and sustainable supply chains that ensure trade benefits workers, communities and the environment.
It’s time for a ‘global fair new deal’
Addressing delegates on Sunday, Gerd Müller, UNIDO Director-General, who was re-elected for a second four-year term, called for the developed world to do more to combat inequality: “Wealthy nations, industrialized countries, oil states, we must live up to our global responsibilities,” he said, pointedly asking why, 30 years after promising to spend 0.7 percent of their annual budgets on foreign development aid, They have not yet reached that number.
It is time, Müller continued, for a “Global Fair New Deal,” in which developing countries have better access to the global financial system and, referring to recent US policies, tariff-free access to markets.
Cuts are “nothing less than a death sentence”
On the other side of the world, in South Africa, leaders of the world’s major economies meet at the annual G20 summit. Müller directly appealed to them to reverse deep funding cuts of up to 40 percent to UN aid agencies, including the World Food Program (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
“This is nothing less than a death sentence for millions of children, refugees and people living in crisis areas around the world who depend on humanitarian assistance,” warned the head of UNIDO.