The UN's third industrial development decade for Africa

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The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has welcomed the UN General Assembly decision proclaiming the period 2016-2025 as the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa.

The First Industrial Development Decade for Africa was from 1980 to 1989 and the Second Industrial Development Decade for Africa was from 1993 to 2002.

UNIDO’s director general, Li Yong, said: “This is great news. Last September, at a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, UNIDO, together with the African Union Commission, the Office of the Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on Africa, and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, called for this decade as a way to place the African continent irrevocably on the path towards inclusive and sustainable industrial development.”

Noting that Africa remains “the poorest and the most vulnerable region in the world”, the UN General Assembly highlights the need for the continent to take “urgent action to advance sustainable industrialisation as a key element of furthering economic diversification and value addition, creating jobs and thus reducing poverty and contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.

Li said that he was pleased to note that the adopted resolution specifically calls on UNIDO “to develop, operationalise and lead the implementation of the programme for the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa, in accordance with its mandate and through voluntary contributions”.

The resolution also invites UNIDO “to scale up its technical assistance to African countries in order to promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development”.

Li said: “We at UNIDO believe that the path to sustainable development is through inclusive and sustainable industrialisation. As the director general of UNIDO, but also as a citizen of the developing world with a deep personal commitment to Africa and a strong faith in its future, I want to reiterate the validity of the dream of a flourishing continent, in which all its extraordinary resources, both natural and human, can finally be harnessed effectively to generate lasting prosperity for all.”

The UN General Assembly encourages UNIDO's director general to mobilise adequate resources for the implementation of the Decade, and reiterates that African countries have primary responsibility for their own economic and social development.

In addition, the resolution invites UNIDO to foster partnerships, as appropriate, with other relevant entities in the UN development system. The General Assembly also calls for enhanced international cooperation, including North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation, in support of Africa's industrialisation, including through the implementation of the Third Decade.