The objective of the meeting is to distill lessons learned and make recommendations for effectively promoting women entrepreneurship and overcoming barriers to women’s economic empowerment, through the mainstreaming of gender in industrial development. It will provide a forum for gender specialists, successful women entrepreneurs, representatives from Member States, international organizations and UNIDO technical experts to share their knowledge and experience, as well as discuss how best to replicate, improve and scale-up successful approaches.

The conclusions and recommendations of the meeting are expected to feed into the preparation of a major event on women in industrial development that UNIDO plans to organize in the near future, while also enhancing and enriching UNIDO’s own strategy on women in industrial development.

For a comprehensive list of participants, click here.

A pdf version of this press release is available here.

A partnership signed in 2007 between the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Microsoft Corp to support business opportunities and entrepreneurship among local SMEs has aimed to help address that problem by linking from end to end the country’s access to affordable PCs and ICT training.

At a ceremony today in Kampala, Prime Minister of Uganda, Apolo NSIBAMBI joined the corporate vice president of the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Group , Will POOLE and UNIDO Director-General Kandeh K. YUMKELLA (right to left in photo), to open the Uganda Green Computers Co, a computer refurbishment centre, making PC ownership more relevant, affordable and accessible for local SMEs and entrepreneurs today.

“The opening of the PC refurbishment centre in Kampala marks a major step forward for the economic opportunities available to SMEs, the majority of employers in Uganda,” said Ham-Mukasa Mulira, minister of information and communications technology of Uganda. “Access to affordable PCs will help SMEs increase their productivity, share information, grow their business, create local jobs and ultimately help make Uganda a more competitive, knowledge-based economy.”

“Fostering entrepreneurship is critical to economic growth in Africa. No economy can thrive and be competitive without dynamic SMEs,” said Kandeh K.Yumkella, director-general of UNIDO. “We are enthused by this project because PC refurbishment centres provide one of the missing links for many micro and informal businesses in the country.”

Funded primarily by local private and public sector investors, the Uganda Green Computers Co’s business model has been designed with commercial and environmental sustainability at the fore. Informed by a commissioned survey of the market for refurbished PCs in Uganda by Makerere University in Kampala, the centre will aim to refurbish 10,000 quality-brand PCs a year and resell them at a retail price estimated to start at $175 (299,000 Ugandan shillings), one-third of the price of a new business PC. The PCs will include a one-year warranty and genuine Windows software.

“There is a significant market in Uganda for refurbished PCs, but until now no one has addressed the issues of affordability, training and recycling in a way that makes sense long-term,” said Patrick Bitature, chairman of Uganda Green Computers Co. “The centre in Kampala has created 22 new jobs already and is expected to grow to over 50 within a year. It will help develop a local and regional industry for responsible and profitable PC refurbishment and recycling for the future.”

The centre is scaled to prepare PCs for resale to local SMEs across Uganda through a network of distributors that is expected to grow from six to 20 within one year. The qualified local staff of the centre will offer training on after-sales support and marketing to the distributors. For its distributor network, the Uganda Green Computers Co also relies on District Business Information Centres, which UNIDO has established throughout the country to provide SMEs with access to the internet as well as business advisory and ICT services.

Providing a full life-cycle solution, the Uganda Green Computers Co offers a programme for the return of refurbished PCs at the end of their useful life and the responsible disassembly of the hardware. The centre will reuse working components such as memory (RAM), resell high-value material including copper and circuit boards, and locally recycle simple materials such as steel and plastic. The centre will work with regional or global recyclers for the proper disposal of toxic substances such as lead glass.

“We have been working with UNIDO over the last two years to help create business opportunities for SMEs in Africa,” said Will Poole, corporate vice president of the Unlimited Potential Group at Microsoft. “Our investments in sustainable PC refurbishment practices and programmes in Uganda are all the more rewarding given the potential we see for ICT to foster innovation, create jobs and accelerate the competitiveness of local SMEs.”

As part of Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential initiative to enable sustained social and economic opportunity for underserved communities around the world, the company will continue to work with UNIDO to determine how to expand the PC refurbishment programme to other countries in Africa. Working with governments, intergovernmental organisations, nongovernmental organisations and industry partners, both UNIDO and Microsoft strive to accomplish a major milestone — to reach the next 1 billion people who are not yet realising the benefits of technology — by 2015.

contact: Barbara Kreissler

Special Issue Editors
Kan Hiroshi SATO (IDE-JETRO), Tatsufumi YAMAGATA (IDE-JETRO), Frank L. BARTELS (UNIDO), Nobuya HARAGUCHI (UNIDO), Anders ISAKSSON (UNIDO)

Publisher information
The Developing Economies is the official journal of the Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO, and publishes original research dealing with empirical and comparative studies on social sciences relating to the developing countries.

The journal promotes discussion and exchange of scholarly opinion on empirical and comparative studies regarding the challenges and problems faced by developing countries.

Paper submission
We welcome submissions and encourage authors interested in submitting to the Special Issue to discuss their submissions in advance with the Special Issue Editors.

Please do not email submissions to the Special Issue Editors. Papers submitted will be subject to the normal process of "blind" review. Only original material will be considered for "blind" review. The Special Issue will not accept book manuscripts or manuscripts on teaching materials or teaching methods.

Please visit http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/De/pdf/guide.pdf for the Instructions for Authors submitting to the Special Issue of the journal of The Developing Economies.

Please note that for the Special Issue the original manuscript and one copy should be submitted to United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as follows:

Special Issue, The Developing Economies-Industrial Competitiveness and Social Change
Strategic Research and Regional Analyses Unit
Room D2046, PCF/RST/SRR
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
Vienna International Centre
P. O. Box 300
1400 Vienna
Austria

Manuscripts may also be submitted as a file attachment (Microsoft word document) in an e-mail.

Submission Start Date (31 May 2008)
Submission Due Date (31 August 2008)
Blind Review Period (September-December 2008)
Revision by Authors (January-April 2009)
Publication Date, Volume, Issue Number (September 2009, Vol. 47, No. 3)

Please refer to the attached PDF for further details on the Special Issue theme and topics.

We know that the cumulative impact of unmitigated climate change is a global concern.

We know that the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events – caused by climate change – will destroy livelihoods and lives.

And we know that developing countries will suffer the most.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 70% between 1970 and 2004, with CO2 – by far the largest source – growing by 80% in this same period. And the figures show that industry is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions: it is responsible for 43% of all CO2 emissions and 65% of the global growth in greenhouse gas emissions. Yet it is industry which has the potential to fuel the economic growth that can lift people out of poverty.

Unless all nations and their industries agree to follow a sustainable, low carbon path in their industrialization, it will not only have an adverse impact on global climate but will also undo economic progress. Because of their paucity of resources or their geographic location, the very survival of some developing countries will be at stake. The only effective remedy is global action.

The world urgently needs to adopt a global low-emissions economic development scenario as a central component of any solution to climate change. Economic growth and the fight against climate change should not just proceed hand in hand; they should become two parts of the same whole, simultaneously addressing cost-effective mitigation, adaptation and sustainable development objectives. Such a scenario is inconceivable without technology and know-how development and dissemination at its heart.

Many of the technologies and instruments needed to respond to the global challenge of climate change are already available. We can expect others to be commercialized in the coming years – once appropriate incentives are put in place. And the flows of experience, know-how and equipment between countries hold the key for transfer of technology for both climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Unfortunately the growth in sustainable development practices has proceeded slowly so far. There are still too many barriers to the deployment and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies and know-how, be it the intransigence of human behaviour, the absence of appropriate policies and regulatory frameworks, or the lack of investment in the infrastructure needed for new energy technologies.

The key is to forge an effective international mechanism for the development and dissemination of technologies. Such a mechanism must aim to remove these barriers, providing predictable financial resources and other incentives for scaling up investment in environmentally sound technologies around the world, and especially in developing countries.

At last year’s World Environment Day, I pointed out that a serious commitment by all nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to provide support to developing countries in reducing their risks from the impacts of climate change, is critical to ensure future human welfare, social stability, peace and security. Nothing of this statement has lost its relevance, especially in view of recent disasters, increased human suffering and an unprecedented global food crisis.

This year, however, I want to add that ultimately we decide ourselves, through our behaviour and investment decisions, how efficiently our energy is generated and used, and how this impacts the global climate. Not just nations, not just individuals. It is also the corporate responsibility of industries to measure their own carbon footprint, to de-carbonize their operations, to adopt energy-efficient patterns of production and to set an example in fighting climate change.

We cannot put this off.

We know that acting now will cost far less than acting later.

We need to kick the habit!

                                                        * * *

For more information on World Environment Day activities see www.unep.org/wed/2008/english/

The Songhai Centre is recognized globally as a world leader in innovative, ecologically sustainable agro-enterprises. “We call it the “zero emission research initiative” says Dr Nzamujo. “The waste from one sector becomes an input in another sector and in that way nothing is wasted”. It has evolved an integrated value chain system organized in commercially viable clusters of agro-enterprises and a very effective training programme for youth in rural and peri-urban areas (see video). Support services and linkages to credit and markets are provided by a network of graduates.

For Dr. Nzamujo “the success of Songhai is something of the heart – it is people who want to change and we can’t rush it. We have to respect the rhythm of change. Songhai is a big learning place where we learn to be more, so that we can have more; so that we are capable of having more things; so that we can solve our problems.” And his vision goes beyond Benin. He wants Songhai “to strike an answering chord to our people all over the world”.

The President of Benin, Dr. Yayi Boni, five UN agencies (FAO, IFAD, ILO, UNDP and UNIDO) and ten neighboring countries share Dr. Nzamujo’s vision. They are teaming up with him to scale-up the “Songhai model” in Benin and take it to Burkina Faso; Cote d’Ivoire; Gabon; Ghana; Guinea; Kenya; Liberia; Malawi; Sierra Leone; and Togo. The President, several members of his Cabinet, Ministers from Liberia, Congo and Guinea and the Governor of Nigeria’s Rivers State were among those who gathered in Porto Novo on 16 May 2008 to launch the programme.

Mr. Gilbert Houngbo, Assistant UN Secretary General, and Director of UNDP’s Africa Bureau, who was also at the launching, is another big Songhai supporter, as is UNIDO Director-General Kandeh K. Yumkella. Mr. Yumkella could not attend the launching because UNIDO’s Industrial Development Board was meeting at the same time. The Director-General was represented by his Spokesperson, Mr. George Assaf.

About a year ago Messrs. Houngbo and Yumkella began discussions on the joint programme. Shortly after, a UNDP - UNIDO technical team began the project formulation. By July 2007, FAO, IFAD, ILO, UNDP and UNIDO had met in Vienna and had prepared a draft programme. The programme was then validated by the participating African countries. It is scheduled to run for five years with a budget of US$4 million. Three million dollars of this will be provided by UNDP.

The programme will establish the Songhai Centre in Porto Novo as the Regional Centre of Excellence for Agri-business Development in Africa and produce a cadre of graduates able to build “Songhai model” centres in each of the participating countries (at least on in each).

If they work as well as they do in Benin, where there are five “satellite Songhais”, the new Centres will create incentives for private sector engagement, improve business and employment opportunities and the livelihoods of rural youth and poor – all with “zero emissions”. And, as their founding father Dr Nzamujo would say, strike a further ‘answering chord to our people all over the world”.

For more information contact Dejene Tezera

The agreement was signed by (pictured left, from left to right) the Head of the Mozambique Delegation of the European Commission Glauco Calzuola; Head of the UNIDO Regional Office, Stefano Bologna; and  Mozambique's National Authorizing Officer of the European Development Fund, Henrique Banze. 

To reach the overall goal of promoting export-led growth and improving the investment climate, the project will focus on three clusters of activity that broadly define the areas of intervention of each of the partners: The Quality Promotion cluster, to be implemented by UNIDO, will strengthen the National Quality Institute - INNOQ (in its task of providing quality services in the fields of metrology, standardization and certification); the Trade Information cluster, to be implemented by ITC, will strengthen the Institute for Export Promotion- IPEX in its task of advising exporters and investors on availability, access and quality of services; the Facilitation of Trade cluster, to be implemented by UNCTAD, will strengthen the capacity of the Mozambique Customs Service to reduce the time and cost of import and export operations.

The type of assistance to be provided by the project was determined by the Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) for Mozambique  carried out under the Integrated Framework (IF) initiative.

The project also addresses the constraints identified in the World Bank's Doing Business Report for Mozambique (See http://www.doingbusiness.org/). The 2008 report ranks Mozambique 134th in the world (out of 178 countries) for ease of doing business, placing the country in the region of a “high cost economy”. The foreign trade (trading across borders) ranking is 140. Mozambique still needs on average 27 days for clearing a typical export operation (38 for a mean import operation), and the average cost of a container for a typical export operation is as high as US$ 1,155 (US$ 1,185 for a mean import operation). Mozambique has some way to go to catch up with one of the best performers of the SADC region – Mauritius – which ranks 27th in "ease of doing business" and 17th in foreign trade (trading across borders). The average number of days to clear a typical export operation in Mauritius is 17 (16 for an import). The average cost of a container for export is US$ 728 (US$ 673 for import).

The Mozambique public institutions that will lead the clusters: the INNOQ; the IPEX; and the Customs Service are themselves at varying levels of capacity. The work to be done in each cluster varies accordingly from the general to the particular.

The leading institution for the Quality Promotion Cluster, the National Institute of Standardization and Quality, INNOQ, has received limited attention and financial support from government till now and lacks many fundamental means (suitable premises for one). The approval of a National Quality Policy by the Council of Ministers in 2003 was a promising step in a new direction. A fundamental issue for the INNOQ is to harmonize its standards and procedures with SADC Member States INNOQ has been linking closely with SADC Secretariat on the Standardisation, Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Metrology (SQAM) project. Given that the number of existing materials and procedures available to harmonize are quite limited in number the INNOQ recognises that there is an urgent need for production of national norms.

Similarly basic issues need to be addressed in the area of metrology, where for instance, INNOQ is unable to calibrate and/or verify weighting instruments with a measurement capability higher than 50 kg in the Provinces due to lack of equipment and the lack of transportation means.

On certification, the challenge is to make the enterprises aware of the advantages of being certified (As an example of extremely low certification culture only nine Mozambican companies are ISO 9001 certified and just one is ISO 14001 certified), and to promote its use as an instrument of competitiveness. The cluster will attend to the basic institutional capacities of the national quality system. The SADC-SQAM project could then contribute to regional harmonization. The cluster will also upgrade existing laboratories in export-priority sectors and support them towards their international accreditation (in coordination with other donors such as SECO that are active in this area).

The leading institution in the Trade Information cluster, the Institute of Export Promotion, (IPEX) was created in 1990 and has received continued support within the limitations of the state budget. The regular budget of the institution has been steady at around € 460,000 p.a. (staff of 40 people). The main need within this cluster is to involve the private sector more actively in the identification of needs, and then deliver the information and advisory services in a user-friendly way.

Finally, the leading institution in the Trade Facilitation Cluster, the Customs Service, is the one, among those mentioned here, that has received the most support in recent years, having concluded last year a large reform process implemented by the government with strong financial and technical support from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). Consequently the activities proposed for this cluster are more focused. It will address two specific requests from the private sector: the introduction of al electronic payment system for user of customs’ services (currently payments are only accepted in cash or through bank deposit); and the implementation of a “Single Window” system to simplify the clearing process of foreign trade transactions.

 
For further information, please contact:

in Vienna Emilio Vento

in South Africa Stefano Bologna

in Mozambique Steven Dils

AITIC Executive Director Dr. Esperanza Durán, together with UNIDO Director-General Dr. Kandeh K. Yumkella, signed the agreement on April 25 2008. The signature ceremony took place in Accra, Ghana, during the 12th Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XII).

Through their cooperation, AITIC and UNIDO intend to exploit their respective strengths in order to offer trade-related assistance to less-advantaged countries. AITIC and UNIDO look forward to working together at the service of their members.

AITIC was established in 2004. It is an intergovernmental organization which assists resource-constrained countries in actively participating in international trade.

Through the provision of trade-related technical assistance and capacity-building AITIC assists its members in promoting trade-led growth. The agency provides free, tailored assistance, focusing on the information and analysis of trade and development issues. A priority area for AITIC assistance is Africa, although activities also cover the Caribbean, Central America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, South-East Asia and the Pacific.

Additionally, AITIC assists its participating members and other resource-constrained countries, especially least developed countries, in the organization of seminars, training sessions, workshops and meetings, preparation of background notes, information briefs and ad hoc documents prepared on demand on topics  relating to international trade and development.

AITIC also assists countries that cannot afford to establish and maintain a permanent representation in Geneva. AITIC provides officials from these countries with constant information on trade-related developments through briefing notes and background information. AITIC also provides logistical support and temporary office space during the process of setting up a mission in Geneva.

The current focus is on agriculture, industrial goods, services, rules and trade facilitation. Other activities are related to technical assistance on sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, World Trade Organization (WTO) accessions, regionalism, trade policy reviews and promotion of public-private sector partnerships. Other development related areas in which AITIC is currently active and offering assistance are: implementation of the Aid for Trade and Enhanced Integrated Framework initiatives and economic partnership agreements.

As of 31 March 2007, AITIC had 66 members of which seven are sponsoring and 59 are participating members. AITIC is funded by Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The regular annual budget of AITIC is funded by contributions from the sponsoring members and by voluntary contributions.

AITIC has observer status in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Conference on the WTO and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore.

AITIC has signed agreements with UNCTAD, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the International Law Institute (ILI).

The fact that many UNIDO Member States are also members of AITIC enhances the potential for cooperation in several areas of common interest:

• Assistance to overcome supply-side constraints;
• Incorporation of trade into development strategies;
• Assessment of needs in trade facilitation;
• Promotion of transfer of technology and business knowledge;
• Support of environmentally-friendly industrialization;
• Involvement of the private and industrial sectors in the Aid for Trade and process of Enhanced Integrated Framework initiatives;
• Assistance to economies in transition to develop market-oriented trade networks.

(The publication is available from Springer Wien-NewYork)

For more information contact: Ms. Petra SCHWAGER

Africa is a continent with an abundance of energy resources. But although readily available, these are mostly undeveloped. Renewable energy resources, in particular, could make an important contribution to the continent's energy challenges. To date, there have been many initiatives aimed at developing renewable energy markets in Africa. Yet, despite the experience gained from these, the contribution of renewable energy to Africa's energy needs remains minimal.

As economies in Africa continue to grow, there is an urgent need to increase access to modern energy services and security of energy supply. The conference will examine bottlenecks in the development of renewable energy markets in Africa and make use of experience from past and ongoing initiatives to develop a common and market-oriented strategy for scaling-up renewable energy use. This will be achieved through assessing the potential role of renewable energy in meeting the continent’s energy needs; policy and regulatory options that will encourage their development; capacity needs for market facilitators and players; research and development needs for renewable energy technologies; and addressing barriers related to financing of renewable energy projects.

The conference will bring together high-level decision makers from a wide-range of governments, international organizations, financial institutions and from the private sector, to provide leadership and commitment to a common strategy for market-based scaling up of the use of renewable energy in Africa. The first two days of the conference are dedicated to technical discussions with a view to share experience on critical success factors. The third day will feature a high-level dialogue on a market-oriented strategy for scaling up the use of renewable energy technologies in Africa, to address the continent’s energy problems as well as enhance industrial competitiveness.

Further information on the conference programme and registration procedure is available at:
http://www.unido.org/doc/76539

Further information about the conference organisers is available under the following links:
www.unido.org
www.bmz.de/en/index.html
www.gtz.de
www.africa-union.org/
www.gouv.sn/

In support of the standards development process, UNIDO and China's Standard Certification Center (CSC) have convened a working group to meet in Beijing, China, 9-11 April 2008. UNIDO initiated a dialogue on the development of an international energy management standard at an expert group meeting on Industrial System Optimization and Energy Management Standards in Industry in March 2007, which included representation from the ISO Secretariat.  As the result of that meeting, a request was submitted from the countries represented at the meeting to the ISO Secretariat to consider undertaking work on an international energy management standard.

The standard will provide all types of organizations and companies a practical and widely recognized approach to increase energy efficiency, reduce costs and improve their environmental performance by addressing both the technical and management aspects of rational energy use. The standard is intended to be broadly applicable to various sectors of national economies, including utility, manufacturing, commercial building, general commerce, and transportation sectors, and therefore, could have influence on as much as 60 % of the world’s energy demand.

ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden commented: “The urgency to reduce GHG emissions, the reality of higher prices from reduced availability of fossil fuels, and the need to promote energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources, provide a strong rationale for developing this new standard building on the most advanced best practices and existing national or regional standards”.

Following the successful examples of the ISO 9000 series on quality management and the ISO 14000 series on environmental management, the project committee ISO/PC 242, Energy management, will consider the development of a standard containing relevant terms and definitions and providing management system requirements together with guidance for use, implementation, measurement and metrics.

The standard will be based on the continual improvement and Plan-Do-Check-Act approach utilized in ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 to provide compatibility and integration opportunities.

The future standard is expected to:

• provide organizations and companies (utilities, manufacturers, commerce, buildings, transportation, both private and public) with a well-recognized framework for integrating energy efficiency into their management practices
• offer organizations with operations in more than one country a single, harmonized standard for implementation across the organization
• provide a logical and consistent methodology for identifying and implementing improvements that may contribute to a continual increase in energy efficiency across facilities
• assist organizations to better utilize existing energy consuming assets, thus reducing costs and/or expanding capacity
• offer guidance on benchmarking, measuring, documenting, and reporting energy intensity improvements and their projected impact on reductions in GHG emissions
•  create transparency and facilitate communication on the management of energy, promote energy management best practices, thus reinforcing the value of good energy management behaviours
• assist facilities in evaluating and prioritizing the implementation of new energy-efficient technologies
• provide a framework for organizations to encourage suppliers to better manage their energy, thus promoting energy efficiency throughout the supply chain
• facilitate the use of energy management as a component of GHG emission reduction projects.

The secretariat of ISO/PC 242 will be held jointly by the ISO members for the United States and for Brazil: ANSI (American National Standardization Institute) and ABNT (Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas).

Beijing meeting

This item was adapted from a UNIDO press release. A pdf version of the press release is available here.

The Government of Japan has contributed US$5 million to UNIDO for a multi-stakeholder Programme to be implemented under the banner Productive and Decent Work for Youth in the Mano River Union (MRU) countries (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone) and Côte d’Ivoire.

The international community pays a great deal of attention to ensuring peace and stability in West Africa. The general strike in Guinea in January 2007 and the resulting casualties prompted the proclamation of martial law. UN Peacekeeping missions have been deployed in Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia. The UN Peacebuilding Commission, of which Japan has been Chair since June 2007, selected Sierra Leone as a target country and identified youth employment as a priority area for peace-building in the country.

The MRU countries and Côte d’Ivoire are examples of the dangers of high youth unemployment and how severely this can affect sub-regional security. This region is undermined by youth unemployment, with one survey suggesting that youth unemployment rates run as high as 88% in Liberia and 60-70% in Sierra Leone, a factor that is only further compounded by the difficulties faced in obtaining accurate and up-to-date census data.

The multi-agency programme aims to create employment opportunities for youth in the MRU countries and Côte d’Ivoire, and to contribute to social and political stability, and economic growth in the region.
TICAD IV GRAPHIC
Towards a Vibrant Africa: A Continent of Hope and Opportunity 28–30 May 2008  
The programme directly addresses the needs of youth by linking opportunities in transnational corporations and private companies. It assists and trains youth in identifying, designing, and implementing projects in self-employment and group activities, establishes a financing facility for youth-led projects in partnership with local banks and financial institutions, and trains youth in various skills such as mining, forestry, agriculture, agro-industries, and construction. The programme will also set up a sub-regional information system on supply and demand of the labour market, as well as a programme management system, which includes monitoring, learning lessons, public relations and an Information, Communication and Technology network.

The Government of Japan has welcomed this programme as one of the forms of UNIDO cooperation built into the framework of the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV), to be held in Yokohama, Japan, from 28–30 May 2008, under the theme Towards a Vibrant Africa: A Continent of Hope and Opportunity. UNIDO has expressed its full commitment to the success of the conference. UNIDO Director-General, Mr. Kandeh Yumkella, indicated the tremendous importance of cooperation between UNIDO and Japan on his first visit to the country in March 2006, followed by his second visit in October 2007. He is expected to participate actively in the conference.

Many African countries have been experiencing relatively high economic growth rates. Taking advantage of the tide of economic growth, the Government of Japan hopes that UNIDO, through this programme, will contribute to giving hope and opportunity to the youth in MRU countries and Côte d’Ivoire.

• a multi-dimensional approach to human security;
• a people-centered focus;
• a rapid and flexible delivery model;
• identification of assets and appraisal of needs at community level;
• appropriate technology transfer and skill development;
• strengthening income flows;
• adding value to local resources;
• promoting market access and linkages.

Going from strength to strength as an internationally recognized benchmark for comparative economics since its launch four years ago, UNIDO’s 2007 Industrial Development Scoreboard ranks 100 countries according to competitive industrial
performance. The blending of industrial development indicators with manufacturing value added, manufacturing exports per capita, industrialization intensity and export quality makes it a unique tool for measuring economic performance in both developed and developing countries.

Emanating from a meeting of internationally renowned economists in Tokyo, the
experiences of Africa and Asia provide economic insights by comparing productivity and growth in the two continents. A candid assessment emerges of policy options in the crucial areas of foreign direct investment and technology diffusion.

In honour of the late Indian economist Sanjay Lall, an international conference in New Delhi offers the latest thinking on the potential for cooperation between India and Africa in industry, trade and investment. As well as looking at cooperation from a macroeconomic perspective, opportunities are identified in six specific sectors of industrial activity crucial for African development.

With an 80-year gap in manufacturing value added between the world’s poorest nations and other developing countries, UNIDO statistician Shyam Upadhyaya tackles the issue of identifying a viable solution for bridging the divide. Drawing on statistical analysis from the Research and Statistics Branch, he suggests an approach for LDCs to catch up with the rest of the Third World in 25 years and with industrialized nations in 50 years.

Mr. Yoshiteru Uramoto, Deputy to the Director-General, Managing Director Programme Coordination and Field Operations division

Please see Research Update No.4 for further information.

The meeting brings together top officials from governments, the Co-Chairs of the United Nations General Assembly Consultations on System-wide coherence, representatives from the "Delivering as One" pilot countries and aid agencies, as well as senior officials from United Nations system organizations.

The objective of the high-level dialogue is to focus discussions on the development aspects of system-wide coherence and the "Delivering as One" initiative - two key components in the UN reform agenda - among representatives of governments, aid agencies and United Nations system organizations. Aiming to reach a common understanding of the issues involved and ways of moving forward, the dialogue will review the status of inter-governmental consultations on system-wide coherence and the next steps to be taken. Representatives from Member States and the United Nations family will also discuss the experience of the "Delivering as One" pilot countries based on the stocktaking exercise initiated by the Deputy Secretary-General at the end of 2007. A better understanding of these processes is expected to contribute to the identification of ways in which both can be strengthen to achieve greater coherence and be mutually re-enforcing.

The meeting is organized in six sessions to tackle different issues: the intergovernmental process on system-wide coherence; the perspectives on advancing UN System-wide coherence, the need for a comprehensive and strategically focused UN System response to national development priorities; funding the pilots for coherence; empowering the Resident Coordinator; and harmonizing business models and practices.

Background information, provisional annotated agenda and programme and information for Member States available here.