Statement by Ambassador Gharibabadi, On Annual Report of the UNIDI Director General for 2019
Statement by Ambassador Gharibabadi, On Annual Report of the UNIDI Director General for 2019
Statement by
H.E. Dr. Kazem Gharibabadi,
Ambassador and the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Before 48th Session of the UNIDO Industrial Development Board (IDB)
Agenda Item 3: Annual Report of the Director General for 2019
23-25 November 2020
In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
Please check against delivery
Mr. President,
Mr. Director General,
Distinguished delegations,
At the outset, let me congratulate you, H.E. Ambassador Djumala Permanent Representative of Indonesia, on your election, as the President of the 48th session of IDB, as well as the members of the bureau for their election. I assure you of the cooperation of my delegation in discharging your mandate and hope that this session will come to a positive and productive outcome.
I would also like to express my appreciation to the distinguished Ambassador of Spain for his outstanding work done during the past year.
We take note of the informative introductory statement by the Director General and appreciate him for his able leadership and relentless efforts towards achieving noble goals of the UNIDO during the year 2019, in particular in the difficult situation of COVID-19 pandemic.
My delegation associates itself with the statements delivered by the distinguished Permanent Representative of Philippine on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, and would like to add some comments at its national capacity as follow:
The Islamic Republic of Iran takes note of the annual report of the Director General for 2019. We express our satisfaction over the various initiatives, activities and programs implemented by the UNIDO during 2019. We maintain that UNIDO has a pivotal role in attaining sustainable industrial development goals worldwide, among all relevant UN specialized agencies.
Mr. President,
We appreciate the Director General and his team in the UNIDO for their dedicated efforts and commitment for implementation of the joint projects in the Islamic Republic of Iran and also for the initiatives undertaken during 2019 to improve the level of cooperation existing between Iran and the UNIDO including through finalizing the Mid-term Review (MTR) of the Country Programme for 2017-2021 in November 2019, which mainly focus on the CP’s main components.
During 2019, and based on the framework of country program, several proposals for new projects were drafted in diverse areas, including in promoting clean energy and industrial energy efficiency, ICT, small and medium businesses, medical waste management, smart cities and promoting fisheries. We seize this opportunity also to thank those donor countries who financially support implementation of these projects.
Indeed, the main target of the Government is to maximize the use of new technologies for sustained industrial development at national level and to help small and medium-sized enterprises in different industries to better communicate and engage more with regional and international companies and organizations.
In this vein and taking into account the very high-level expertise, infrastructures, potentials and best practices and experiences existing in the Country in different areas, the Islamic Republic of Iran is determined and has expressed its full readiness to expand its cooperation with UNIDO in all feasible areas of collaboration and there are numerous economic opportunities and capacities in Iran, which can be utilized by different countries with the help of UNIDO.
Mr. President,
Taking into account the serious challenges of our era, we firmly believe that fulfilling our commitments on gaining inclusive industrial development and creating enabling environment for the benefit and welfare of our people can only be achieved through taking common endeavors and sharing responsibilities, based on international cooperation and multilateralism, including through multilateral institutions like UNIDO, and to maintain and uphold our unified objection to unilateralism as stipulated in Para 26 of the final Declaration of 18th session of the UNIDO's GC. Hereafter, we need to shield multilateralism as a high value for industrialization.
Finally, we are mindful that much remains to be done to achieve Sustainable Development and make the world a more prosperous and healthy planet where all people can live productive and vibrant, and where no one is left behind.
I thank you Mr. President