DG s Speech at the Cocktail Reception to celebrate UNIDO s 50 th Anniversary Afternoon, 8 September 2016 Xiamen, Fujian Province, China LI Yong Director General United Nations Industrial Development Organization 1
Dear Colleagues and Friends, Allow me to extend a warm welcome to everyone present at this reception to celebrate UNIDO's 50th anniversary. It is a great pleasure to see our closest partners in China assembled in one room. We don't get this opportunity very often. One of the main reasons that I decided to host this reception, with the generous support of the Organizing Committee of CIFIT, at the end of a long working day, is to express my gratitude to all of you. What better occasion could there be to do so than at a moment when our dear Organization, UNIDO, is turning 50? And what better platform could there be but the CIFIT, which UNIDO helped to build up in the first place, and which is also celebrating a round birthday this year?: 20 years, over which it has continuously grown into one of the most important fairs for trade and investment world-wide. Today, I had the pleasure to take a tour of our special 50th anniversary exhibition, which provides vivid images of the past, and shows how strong and deeply rooted the cooperation between China and UNIDO has been over the years, and how many key partners it has involved, alongside our main counterpart MOFCOM, as well as CICETE and FECO. 2
Our exhibition shows how UNIDO has had the privilege to support China at various important cross-roads: in the early days, when China decided to open up to the outside world, in planting the seeds for Special Economic Zone development; and, more recently, since China has become the industrial powerhouse it is today, in the implementation of critical multilateral environmental agreements. Dear Colleagues, Today's world is changing rapidly. In addition to looking back and reminiscing about the past, an occasion like this also invites us to reflect on the present and future, and to chart a sustainable path for this future in China and other developing countries. With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September last year, a new stage of cooperation between China and UNIDO is about to begin. The five New Normals of innovation, greening, opening, sharing and coordination in the 13th Five Year Plan will provide momentum for the implementation of key SDGs in China - especially SDG 9 on resilient infrastructure, inclusive and sustainable industrialization and innovation, and SDG 12 on sustainable consumption and production. 3
At UNIDO we will strongly support China in achieving these and other SDGs and in realizing a green, innovation-based economy as envisioned in the Government s Made in China 2025 initiative. However, the rapid changes we are seeing in China and the world right now also mean that our future cooperation will have to adjust, as it has already started to do. China is increasingly assuming leadership in the international development debate. This has been very obvious during last year s climate change negotiations and in President Xi Jinping s announcement, during the UN Summit to establish a South-South Cooperation Fund for SDG implementation with an initial volume of US$2 billion. It is also plainly clear in China s current Presidency of the G20. As we are just returning from the G20 leaders summit in Hangzhou, we are thankful that advancing industrialization in Africa and least developed countries, as well as the New Industrial Revolution are now key parts of the G20 s action plans. For UNIDO, this new role of China means that we shall live up to two demands: To continue to cooperate with China for China, and at the same time to join hands with China in its cooperation with other countries, including through the One Belt One Road initiative and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Our new Country Programme 2016 2020 is designed in recognition of these facts. 4
Our High-Level Forum on Investment in Africa earlier this afternoon bears clear testimony to these changes. It was conducted on the heels of our new assistance package for Member States to which China provides strong support: The Programme for Country Partnership (PCP). I was delighted to see today how much progress we have already achieved with our first PCPs in Ethiopia and Senegal. And I am glad that these programmes shall continue to benefit from the attractive investment place Africa has come to be for Chinese investors in recent years. My strong hope is that our matchmaking event tomorrow will help to expand joint opportunities and to inform Chinese investors as they are looking for guidance in designing the right localization strategies in Africa. Dear Friends, As UNIDO is celebrating its 50th anniversary, we have every reason to be confident. Today, we have a clear mandate and direct responsibility for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through inclusive and sustainable industrialization. Our main Expo at UNIDO Headquarters in Vienna during our Board meeting in late November will send this message out to the world, and I hope to be able to welcome all of you there. 5
Going forward, we shall continue to build on our strong cooperation with all of you. Let me specifically thank MOFCOM, CICETE and FECO for our trustful partnership; our technical UNIDO Centers and Offices in China for their strong commitment; the CIFIT team for their outstanding hospitality; and all of you for joining me and my team on this special occasion tonight. Let us therefore raise our glasses, and please join me in saying Happy Birthday UNIDO and Happy Birthday CIFIT. Cheers! 6