23 October 2020, Bonn, Germany - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is now the 24th and newest member of the UN family in Bonn. UNITAR, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, opens its third out-posted office in the UN City in Germany, following the offices in the United States (New York) and Japan (Hiroshima). The Institute has several project offices and affiliated training centres around the world.

The Bonn office will provide a full range of services spanning its work across all pillars of Agenda 2030, together with flagship programmes on multilateral diplomacy, climate change learning, e-waste, non-communicable disease, conflict prevention, peacekeeping, satellite analysis and applied research.

“We are very pleased to establish a new office in Germany. Bonn’s impact as a global capital for sustainability and climate protection, as well as the German Federal Government’s support to UNITAR made it a strategic choice for UNITAR,” said Nikhil Seth, UNITAR’s Executive Director, at the official launch event.

Over the years, UNITAR has acquired unique expertise and experience in designing and delivering a variety of capacity-building activities. The Institute has become a leading provider of customized and creative learning solutions for organizations and individuals from both public and private sectors as a means for enhancing global decision-making and supporting country-level action to shape a better future. The strategic opening of the UNITAR Bonn office increases UNITAR’s focuses on research and on delivering more analytical work linked to high-quality products and services.

The beneficiary groups will mainly be from developing countries and small island states, as well as groups and communities in vulnerable or conflict-stricken situations. By supporting the spread of real innovation toward an inclusive and sustainable future, the UNITAR Bonn office will also prioritize post-industrialized countries, which often have unsustainable patterns and thus endanger limited natural resources and the well-being of future generations.

Today’s virtual launch event included welcoming remarks by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador (who also serves as Chair of UNITAR’s Board of Trustees), the German government (through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the government of North-Rhine Westphalia, the Lord Major of Bonn, the Representative of the European Commission in Germany, the University of Bonn and the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg Chamber of Commerce.