UNIDO to significantly expand cooperation with India

LI Yong, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and Saurabh Chandra, India's Vice-Minister of Commerce and Industry, signed an agreement to increase the competitiveness of Indian industrial enterprises and to enhance South-South industrial cooperation. The total budget of the Country Programme 2013-2017 for India, and a second phase of the UNIDO Centre for South-South Industrial Cooperation (UCSSIC) located in New Delhi, will exceed USD 107 million over the next five years. The signing of the two agreement highlights the growing partnership and strengthening of industrial cooperation efforts between the Government of India and UNIDO. The Country Programme will transfer new technology, such as the latest energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, to improve the competitiveness of industrial enterprises in India. It will also increase productivity, quality, and occupational health and safety, and the environmental sustainability of industrial production. All projects will have a strong emphasis on sustainable, green industrial development, with a special focus on environmental protection and energy efficiency. Phase two of the UCSSIC will enhance South-South industrial cooperation and will especially benefit the Least Developed Countries. In its first phase, the UCSSIC developed 13 projects in various sectors, such as agro-industry, renewable energy, cluster development and capacity building. The UCSSIC also established institutional networking and capacity building with 12 other developing countries. In 1966, India was one of the founder members of UNIDO, and UNIDO implemented the first technical cooperation project in India in 1968. To date, over 400 projects have been completed, with a total budget of over USD 100 million. Currently, 31 projects are being implemented, with more than a dozen more in the pipeline.