On 9–10 April local time, the 2026 International Vienna Energy and Climate Forum(IVECF 2026), jointly organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, and other institutions, was held in Vienna, Austria, under the theme "Powering Prosperity, Security and Stability." On 9 April, Xin Baoan, Chairman of the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO) and President of the China Electricity Council (CEC), attended the plenary session and delivered a speech at the High-Level Roundtable 1.1 Spotlight on LDCS and LLDCS: Green Industrialization for Stability and Shared Prosperity. H.E. Mr. Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone, Ambassador Peter Huber, Director-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance of the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, the President of the OPEC Fund for International Development, and other government and international organization representatives attended the Roundtable.
Xin Baoan noted that energy is the cornerstone of industrial development. For LDCs and LLDCs, advancing green industrialization hinges on leveraging their clean energy endowments and transforming resource advantages into industrial strengths and engines of growth. He put forward three recommendations. First, accelerate the development and utilization of clean energy and build a green energy system to provide a sustainable energy foundation for the green industrialization of least developed countries. Second, promote industrial linkages and coordinated regional development by integrating the differentiated resource endowments of individual countries, advancing infrastructure interconnection, and forming a combined force for development. Third, strengthen green development capacity through improved top-level design and planning, more robust institutional frameworks, and the cultivation of specialized talent. At the same time, the international community should enhance capacity building support to help these countries establish an endogenous drive for sustainable development.
Xin Baoan noted that GEIDCO is an international organization dedicated to energy transition and sustainable development, with a global network of 1,450 members across 145 countries. To date, we have released more than 100 innovative outcomes, carried out capacity-building on energy transition for over 10,000 participants from more than 100 countries, and proposed the P4M Co-development Model – integrating Power, Mining, Metallurgy, Manufacturing, and Market. These efforts help advance green industrialization in Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Looking ahead, GEIDCO stands ready to deepen cooperation with all parties to make greater contributions to global green, low-carbon and sustainable development.
During IVECF 2026, Xin Baoan held bilateral meetings and exchanges with H.E. Ms. Rabab Fatima, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States; Mr. Gerd Müller, Director General of UNIDO, and Zou Ciyong, Deputy Director General of UNIDO; Mr. Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency; Annageldi Saparov, Minister of Energy of Turkmenistan; Andrew Baasaron, Minister of Economic Affairs, Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation of Suriname; Riad Meddeb, Director of the UNDP Sustainable Energy Hub; Stefano Marguccio, Deputy CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL); Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, Global Development and Energy Economist and former Director General of UNIDO; Seleshi Bekele, former Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy of Ethiopia; and Franz Josef Radermacher, Honorary President of the German Federal Economic Senate. Consensuses were reached on deepening multi-domain cooperation and jointly advancing the global green energy transition. Ms. Fatima expressed appreciation for GEIDCO's contributions to advancing energy and power development in the world's least developed countries, and expressed her hope to establish cooperative partnership with GEIDCO focused on the development needs of least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, and small island developing states, and jointly carry out capacity building and other practical cooperation. Mr. Müller stated that GEIDCO’s work is pioneering and exemplary in advancing clean energy, electrification, and interconnection, and there is great scope for cooperation between the two sides. Mr. Marguccio expressed his willingness to deepen cooperation with GEIDCO in capacity building, conferences and events, and joint research. And the two sides would jointly pursue research on sustainable development policy recommendations to advance the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The head of Operation Bureau of GEIDCO accompanied Xin Baoan during these activities.
