Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain

01/20/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/20/2026 14:05

Spain will host one of the headquarters of the United Nations Development Programme

PRESS RELEASE 005

Spain will host one of the headquarters of the United Nations Development Programme

Albares welcomes Madrid as the destination for a hundred of the jobs that the UNDP is transferring from its headquarters in New York

Today
​The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, today welcomed the fact that Spain will be one of the headquarters of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) after the organisation accepted the Government's offer to host about a hundred of the positions transferred from its headquarters in New York.

Following this recognition of Spain's commitment to development cooperation and multilateralism, the organisation itself explained that almost 400 jobs will be relocated to two European headquarters: Madrid, which will host around a quarter of these jobs, and Bonn, in Germany, which will receive the rest.

The UNDP thanked the Government for offering to host the positions that the organisation is decentralising and acknowledged that these agreements will strengthen joint efforts to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities, protect the environment and support stabilisation and recovery in crisis situations.​

Although around 7% work from New York, which will remain the global headquarters of the UNDP, the organisation operates in some 170 countries and territories and has a staff of 22,000, most of whom, more than 19,000, are decentralised.

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