Mona K. Hider
UNDP Resident Respresentative, a.i.
On the occasion of UNIDO’s Fortieth Anniversary
Ballroom 2, Holiday Inn
at 10:00
on Wednesday, 22 November 2006
Amman, Jordan
Your Excellency, Mr. Shareef Al-Zu’bi, Minister of Industry and Trade
Mr. Cheikh Sakho, UNIDO Respresentative and Head of Regional Office for Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Jordan
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to stand before you today on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Jordan on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
On this occasion, I would like to thank His Excellency the Minister of Industry and Trade for kindly accepting to have this event held under his patronage. I would also like to convey our great appreciation to the staff of his Ministry for all the efforts they have exerted in order to facilitate this ceremony.
Also, I would like to welcome our colleague, Cheikh Sakho, UNIDO’s Regional Director for Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Jordan, who has come from Lebanon especially to attend this ceremony.
UNIDO agrees with UNDP that enhancing cooperation and partnerships among them will enable them to confront challenges in order to reach the United Nations’ ultimate goal of combating poverty and achieving human development for all through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Hence, the two organizations have signed at the end of 2004, a joint technical cooperation programme on Private Sector Development
Within this framework, and in order to support the development process in Jordan and push the country’s economic wheel, a UNIDO office was established within the premises of UNDP in Jordan in August 2005. This made Jordan one of the first 12 States around the world and the only one among the Arab States to benefit from this joint cooperation agreement.
At the national level, both organizations seek through this programme to improve the livelihood of Jordanians by supporting efforts aimed at establishing a stronger national economy. Its provisions harmonize with the Jordanian Government’s inclination to devote its utmost attention to the private sector, and is based on our belief that the private sector has a central role to play in alleviating poverty and has the ability to contribute to a better life through creating job opportunities, increasing incomes, reducing prices and empowering the poor by the provision of services and products.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
According to Jordan’s National Agenda, the private sector’s growth faces several constraints. Small and medium enterprises are still marginalized. They face several administrative obstacles and suffer from administrative inefficiencies and limited access to financing. Therefore, and through the agreement with UNIDO, a number of activities will be formulated to enhance the capacities of these enterprises by supporting the creation of a favorable environment for economic competitiveness. This can be achieved through encouraging the reform of laws and regulations and remove the obstacles that challenges their growth. In addition, the activities will concentrate on enhancing the cooperation and partnerships between the private and public sectors in order to surmount difficulties and ensure the success of these enterprises, and raise the levels of these enterprises’ contribution to development and the alleviation of poverty and unemployment.
Furthermore, the programmes will include activities that contribute towards the development of the knowledge and skills of, as a first stage, the agro-industrial entrepreneurs, with a focus on the empowerment of women and youth for improving the performance of their projects.
But, this focus on the local private sector should not belittle the importance of foreign investment. In addition to the financial resources brought in by Foreign Direct Investments, the introduction of a trade-based culture may change the way businesses are operated and attract better experiences and practices in the area of enterprise management. It may also enable penetration of world markets, transfer of technologies and innovations, and the placement of competitive pressures on hitherto-closed markets. This may also contribute to the growth of local supportive businesses.
From this point of departure, the UNDP and UNIDO in Jordan have previously supported the Jordanian Government’s efforts aimed at building those institutional capacities that seek to formulate policies and create suitable environments for encouraging and attracting foreign investments.
We realize that our joint programmes may not alone be sufficient to achieve the ambition that we all aspire, but, we consider them as an entrepreneurial model, first, as the kind of joint collaboration among the United Nations organizations themselves and, second, as an indicator of the various forms of activities that may be generalized in order to create the most profound possible impact for unleashing the capacities of the private sector and achieving the Millennium Development Goals, in the forefront of which is the alleviation of poverty.
Finally, I would like to congratulate the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and its employees on the occasion of their organization’s 40th anniversary, wishing them continued success in their concerted efforts towards helping the developing countries and the countries that are going through an interim phase in their struggle against marginalization.
Also, I would like to thank the Jordanian Government, as well as all the ministries and departments for their encouragement and support to UNIDO and UNDP’s activities in Jordan. In particular, I wish to commend the employees of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation.
Thank you