For information only - not an official document

UNIS/OUS/205
6 September 2013

Re-issued as received

UNIDO to significantly expand cooperation with India

VIENNA, 6 September 2013 (United Nations Industrial Development Organization)  - LI Yong, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and Saurabh Chandra,  India's Vice-Minister of Commerce and Industry, today signed programme documents 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 programme documents 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 developed13 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.

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For more information, please contact:

Mikhail Evstafyev
Head, Advocacy and External Relations
Telephone: (+43-1) -26026-5021
Mobile: (+43-699) -1459-7329
Email: M. Evstafyev[at]unido.org

Amita Misra
Director, UNIDO Bureau for Regional Programmes
Telephone: (+43-1) -26026-3671
Email: A.Misra[at]unido.org

 Imran Farooque
Chief, UNIDO Asia and Pacific Programme
Telephone: (+43-1) -26026-3024
Email : l.Farooque[at]unido.org