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Photo: UNIDO
GLOBAL FORUM
sustainable industrial development as endorsed by the UNIDO General Conference in its Lima Declaration adopted in December 2013. How does the G-77 view UNIDO’s vision for inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID)? I believe ISID is not just a fast-emerging trend today. It is in fact necessary and inevitable. It is derived from the very concept of inclusive sustainable development, the intrinsic value of which was reaffirmed at the Rio+20 Conference. That it has been brought to bear on industrial development is only natural. How to give effect to ISID? And what
Ambassador ALIYAR LEBBE ABDUL AZEEZ was the chair of the Group of 77 (G-77) Vienna Chapter during the first half of 2014. The Group was established on 15 June 1964 by 77 developing countries during the first session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva. Although the membership has increased to 133
countries, the original name has been retained because of its historic significance. The main focus of the G-77 Vienna Chapter, which is supported by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, is the promotion of technical cooperation activities and international cooperation. The G-77 Chapter serves all the Vienna-based UN organizations.
mechanism could help best advance its implementation? These are crucial issues, and while we cannot shy away from discussing them, it is not practical to expect all these to be addressed at once. This is where I believe that considerations of equity and resilience in the overall matrix of ISID are important. The idea is to have an inclusive platform, which means flexibility and understanding among all members. On the other hand, UNIDO needs to continue the follow-up on the Lima Declaration, and this would require ISIDmapping as an internal strategy in order to see what is the maximum it should seek to achieve out of the process of elaboration of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, and what is the minimum it can be content with. As we in the G-77 have stressed, to implement ISID, both the UNIDO Secretariat and member states will have to work together. What are some of the ways in which the G-77 can advocate for the inclusion of a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on industrialization? In advocating for ISID, the G-77 is an important platform but, as I stated before, we need to adopt an inclusive approach which looks at a larger constituency, of which the G-77 remains at the core. First, it can be done by continuing to build a consensus on operationalizing ISID, with a realization of its obvious benefits. Second, there should be a multi-layered, multisetting cooperation, involving the headquarters of the UN and other organizations and agencies. Third, we need to address what I think is a misconception: that industrialization and industrial development mean the same thing. In my view, although these terms are used interchangeably, industrial development is the more appropriate concept because I think it directly relates to, and is derived from, the concept of development.
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