The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is retrenching employees in New York and moving around 300 positions to Bonn. Of a total of 400 positions, around three quarters of the headquarters would move to Bonn, the UN Development Program announced on Monday evening. Around 100 additional positions that were previously located at the headquarters in the US metropolis are to be created in the Spanish capital Madrid. New York will remain the UNDP headquarters, it said.
The move is part of a continuous adaptation process to changing financial and development policy conditions, the UNDP said. In addition, partnerships should be strengthened. In the past, American President Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned UN institutions, cut their money or eliminated them entirely.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) called the development program an “international heavyweight”. The location decision is an important political signal for trust in German foreign policy. This is particularly true in times when the UN system and multilateral principles are under pressure, he said.
A week ago, the Foreign Minister called for more influence for Germany in the UN. After a meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York, Wadephul called for greater German representation in top UN posts. He also said that they would be happy if UN organizations considered relocating to Bonn.
UN already employs 1,200 people in Bonn
According to Federal Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan (SPD), the move shows that Germany’s role in global development policy is growing. North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) called the UNDP’s decision “a decision for Europe, excellence and multilateralism”.
Mayor Guido Déus (CDU) said that over the past three decades, Bonn has also made a name for itself internationally as a German city of the United Nations. If parts of the development program were now relocated to Bonn, Germany would make an important contribution to strengthening international cooperation in geopolitically difficult times.
According to the city, 27 United Nations organizations with around 1,200 employees already have their headquarters in Bonn. According to the UN, the former federal capital on the Rhine has long been the headquarters of the UN volunteer program, which is part of the UNDP.
The development program operates in around 170 countries and regions and says it employs around 22,000 people, the vast majority of whom, more than 19,000, work in country and regional offices. Less than seven percent are stationed in New York, the remaining part at other locations.
