WHO NEEDS UNIDO NOW ?
Stanis?aw PIGO? ????????
Keep smiling attitude. Experienced consultant & trainer.
Most likely, candidates for the post of Director General will answer the same question that was asked so many times: Who needs UNIDO? If they promise to bring back member states that left UNIDO, and in particular to persuade the U.S. to re-join, it is to be seen.?
In November 2014, The Heritage Foundation published an online commentary after Ambassador’s Laura E. Kennedy, Chargé d'Affaires at the U. S. Mission to International Organizations in Vienna, courtesy call on UNIDO Director General Ll Yong. The author argued that it would be a mistake for the U.S. to consider re-joining UNIDO. The commentary is based on a larger report that labels UNIDO in quite harsh words and recalls opinions of other countries that left the Organization. Quote??"Other governments have chosen to withdraw from UNIDO after concluding that the organization is of?marginal?importance and provides poor value for money." Unquote. The report also highlights financial consequences of the US departure from UNIDO, including the Helms -Biden Act that introduced a prohibition on payment of UNIDO arrears. The legislation followed the Clinton Administration assessment that was particularly critical of UNIDO. Quote. "UNIDO has not been able to define its purpose and function very well, much less become effective in its programmatic activities."?Unquote.?
Nothing has changed since then about the issue of the U.S. and the Organization relationship (the country ceased to be a member state in 1996).
In July 2013, shortly after Mr. LI Yong assumed his duties for the first term as UNIDO DG, DEVEX in another online commentary put a suggestive question:?China believes in UNIDO, why don't the rest of us? Today UNIDO's official Twitter account heralded a written interview of Mr. LI Yong, seemingly portrayed with the same headphones and the same tie as in DEVEX commentary of 2013; only difference being that the photo China Daily published two days ago is?en face?while then DEVEX preferred the angled one. In his interview on the occasion of UN 75th Anniversary UNIDO DG provides an ample view of the Organization mission, actions and achievements: from 2030 Agenda trough 4IR to today’s response to COVID19. The last question of the interview echoes that one from 2013:?What role does China play in participating in UNIDO cooperation projects and promoting international industrial cooperation?
Next year, Mr. LI Young as the incumbent UNIDO DG will witness presentations and visions of candidate(s) aspiring for UNIDO DG post. When he was re-appointed for the second term, all floor was his, as in 2017 Mr. LI Yong was the only candidate. It is most likely that some candidates during 2021 election campaign will answer the same question that was asked so many times: Who needs UNIDO? If they promise to bring back member states that left UNIDO, and in particular to persuade the U.S. to re-join, it is to be seen.?
At 75th Anniversary of UN many things happen: the U.S. left WHO, but the world applauds the Nobel Peace Prize for WFP. In June, The Economist published a special report?titled:?The UN’s structures built in 1945 are not fit for 2020, let alone beyond it. It contains quite an obscure vision of UN system. Quote "Insiders complain of a tangle of overlapping agencies, senseless silos and barricaded budgets. If you locked a team of evil geniuses in a laboratory, they could not design a bureaucracy so maddeningly complex, one departing official despaired. Outsiders face a forbidding confusion of agencies with acronyms. Many do great work (WFP?and UNHCR), others have a mixed record (WHO?and FAO), a few are useless (UNIDO). And at the top the structure reflects the world of 1945, as if little had changed since." Unquote.
Shall the UNIDO Advocacy Team advise Mr. LI Yong to give an interview to The Economist, and if this happens, which angle he will be portrayed at?
During 2020 US election campaign now-President Elect promised to reverse the US move to withdraw from WHO. What will be the incoming US Administration approach to the UN system and to UNIDO ? Back in 1999,?then-Senator Joe Biden co-sponsored the legislation that rejected?UNIDO claims?for USD 87.9 million??in outstanding assessed contributions from 1994–1996.?
领英推荐
Online sources: