LI Yong, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. (Photo: UNIDO)
Abu Dhabi (People’s Daily) – The Abu Dhabi declaration was officially announced and adopted Wednesday at the 18th session of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) general conference.
UNIDO’s member states, who had gathered in Abu Dhabi for the conference, have agreed to join forces in calling on the global private sector to form a coalition to advance inclusive and sustainable industrial development.
The member states have adopted the Abu Dhabi declaration as part of UNIDO’s mandate to achieve the sustainable development goal 9, which aims to ‘build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.’
The governments of all the member countries will now work in tandem with their private sectors and across borders to enhance public-private partnerships and thereby advance inclusive economic growth and bolster sustainable development.
The five-day conference, held for the first time in the Middle East and North African region, convened in Abu Dhabi from November 3-7 and brought together over 40 heads of state and ministers, 800 delegates from 125 countries, as well as representatives from NGOs under the theme of ‘Industry 2030 – Innovate. Connect. Transform our Future.’
In a video message to the conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “UNIDO plays an important role in advancing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. I commend your focus on harnessing the potential of new technologies. Through your partnerships with governments and the private sector, you can help drive job creation, technology transfer, and investments. Your work also helps to combat the climate crisis by facilitating the transition to circular economies, low carbon growth, the greening of infrastructure and the reduction of industrial emissions.”
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said: “The UAE has long advocated for alliances and partnerships to advance the march of progress and humanity. Now, we are calling for collaboration and co-operation on a global scale to take advantage of the opportunities technology and automation can bring, while working together to ensure that challenges are addressed.”
LI Yong, Director General of UNIDO added: “The declaration underlines the crucial role of UNIDO as a platform to coordinate and catalyze initiatives of the private sector, ideally by establishing a global alliance of private sector manufacturers for inclusive and sustainable industrial development. Looking into the future and the technological changes that are already taking place, this declaration also makes it very clear that we need to make best use of frontier technologies of the fourth industrial revolution.”
Under the Abu Dhabi declaration, the global private sector should elevate to become crucial stakeholders in developing a circular economy – a concept that preserves and enhances capital by deploying renewables and encouraging conservation. It also optimizes resource yields by recycling materials to where they are most needed.
The declaration also supports prosperity for developing countries by scaling up UNIDO programs supporting technology transfer, innovation, and learnings for SMEs, women and youth.
The Abu declaration is a continuation of a global industrial partnership that was first converged by the global manufacturing and industrialization summit – a joint initiative by UNIDO and the UAE Ministry of Energy and Industry which was launched in 2015.
As the world's first and only global gathering for the manufacturing sector, the summit has been held in both the United Arab Emirates and Russia, with a third summit planned for next year in Germany.
By bringing together thousands from the manufacturing community at each of its forums, the global manufacturing and industrialization summit has established over 100 partnerships with the private sector and launched a global good initiative that leverages manufacturing and technology to resolve socio-economic challenges, especially in least developed countries, through a public, private and academic partnership.
