+++ News ticker +++ German cabinet announces Federal Minister Gerd Müller as candidate for top UNIDO post
UNIDO is an important partner for Germany in the sphere of global development and for creating new jobs in developing countries. The latter is an area of German development policy that has been massively expanded in recent years, for example with the introduction of a Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation.
There are a number of other strong contenders who have been put forward for the election in November 2021. The transparent and open candidacy process has now begun.
Gerd Müller has many years of experience in the fields of international development cooperation and economic development: as a Member of the European Parliament he held a range of different posts, including being a member of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. From 2005 to 2013, he held the post of State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, focusing on global food issues and on international agricultural development projects.
He has been Germany's Development Minister since 2013, a position in which he has put a special emphasis on cooperation with Africa, a world without hunger, international climate action, working with the private sector, and vocational education and training. Most recently the BMZ launched an Emergency COVID-19 Support Programme that, in addition to measures aimed at directly fighting the pandemic, puts a focus on protecting jobs in developing countries. Today, Germany is the second largest global donor (after the US).