UNIS/OUS/RI/010
26 June 2009

Re-issued as received

Russia supports UNIDO projects in Eurasian Economic Community and Sierra Leone

VIENNA, 26 June (UN Information Service) - UNIDO will receive a special purpose contribution worth USD 2.6 million per annum for the next three years from the Russian Federation for environmental and technology promotion projects in the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) and in Sierra Leone.

The agreement was signed this week by UNIDO Director-General, Kandeh K. Yumkella, and the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna, Ambassador Alexander Zmeyevskiy.

The projects include the establishment of a network of investment and technology promotion offices in EurAsEC, comprised of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

This will provide business communities in these countries with more opportunities to invest in bankable industrial projects, enable them to modernize local industry, as well as solve environmental problems by applying new technologies and innovations. The projects will increase technology and investment flows into the industrial sector, help create new technology-based enterprises, and increase employment, income and living standards.

One major project will focus on establishing a sub-regional recycling centre in Russia to demonstrate advanced environment-friendly technologies for recycling of industrial waste.

Another core project will identify, evaluate and prioritize pollution "hot-spots" in the basins of trans-border reservoirs in several regions of the Russian Federation and cross-boundary water basins of Eurasia, and transfer environmentally sound technologies. It would also help identify industries that are most water pollutant and recommend policy measures and technological solutions for pollution prevention and management.

A separate project will focus on technical capacity-building and application of cost-effective technologies in fishing and seafood processing, as well as training programmes in Sierra Leone. The Maritime State University of Vladivostok has the technical capacity to carry out advanced training in fishing and seafood processing. The proposed new technologies will decrease the cost of final products, take into consideration concerns related to securing the diversity and reproduction of bio-resources, and reduce pollution of the environment.

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For further information, please contact:

George Assaf
Spokesperson, UNIDO
Telephone: (+43-1) 26026-3849
Email: g.assaf@unido.org
Website: www.unido.org