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13 - 19 October
A Development Agenda that Ensures Productivity Gains mean Social Gains
Venice, Italy, 3 - 4 October, 2002Venice II, Updating and Fleshing Out the Development Agenda, held in Venice, 3 - 4 October, 2002, was called by UNIDO Director - General Carlos Magariños because of his belief in the urgent need for a new paradigm for development, built not on the rejection of the current one, but on the realization that its chief elements: macroeconomic stability; trade liberalization; good governance; have not brought about productivity gains that translate into social benefits.
The overiding goal of Venice II was to identify the interventions and strategies that would
promote private sector led productivity growth and maintain popular support for these reforms by
delivering benefits that can be seen in daily life. Proposals made at Venice
I, in September, 2000, have influenced UNIDOs Medium-Term Programme Framework 2002 2005.
Venice II was not organized out of academic, public relations or political concerns, but to develop
more concrete initiatives. During my tenure as Director General of UNIDO, I have endeavored to
update the concept of industrial development, abandoning the idea of it as a matter of investing in
large plants or engaging in sectoral advocacy, and replacing it with a modern concept associated with
gains in productivity for the economy as a whole. Venice II is about the specification of the precise
instruments needed for this concept to bear fruit.
 Venice II co-chairs, UNIDO DG Carlos Magairños and Tanzanian Prime Minister, Frederick Sumaye |
Venice II was co-chaired by Tanzania's Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye. Participants included
Poland's Finance Minister, Grzegorz Kolodko, IMF Deputy Managing Director, Eduardo Aninat,
Inter-American Development Bank President, Enrique V. Iglesias, and leading figures from business,
academia and development from four continents. The background of Venice II participants
reflects UNIDO's belief that success depends on creating a web of interactions between economic
agents, markets and institutions. Prime Minister Sumaye echoed this belief in his observation that
"we have brought together key development actors to frame a new development agenda. It is important
that we move together as a group, rather than as individuals, so that the questions that we ask will
lead to answers which are reflective of the true concerns of developing countries, and not the
individual concerns of a particular discipline or interest group".
In his keynote address at the beginning of the forum, Director - General Magariños indicated to participants that in updating and fleshing out the development agenda, nothing should be taken for granted, inviting them to consider such fundamental questions as "Does our Agency have the right diagnosis? Are we in UNIDO making the relevent contributions through our technical cooperation activities"? In this context, the exchange of ideas at Venice II was based on contributions on How can Multilateral Financial Institutions best fight divergence?, by Eduardo Aninat, Cradle to Cradle Design: Redesigning the Relationship between Industry and Nature, by Michael Braungart from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPEA), Germany; Barriers to Agricultural Trade, by Paolo De Castro, President of Nomisma - Society of Economics Studies S.P.A. and Former Agriculture Minister of Italy; Globalization and Catching up in Emerging Market Economies, by Grzegorz Kolodko; Intellectual Property Rights, Competition Policy, and the Supply of Public Goods: Historical and Contemporary Evidence from Policy Reform in the United States, by David C. Mowery, Professor of Business at the University of California, Berkeley; and Alternative paths to Prosperity, by Adrian Wood, Chief Economist and Director, Economics, Business and Statistics Division, UK Department for International Development, (DFID).
In addition to those mentioned above, contributions were also made by Italy's Vice Minister, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Mario Baccini; Senior Counselor, Mitsubishi Research Institute Inc., and Chairman, Policy Sub-Committee on Trade and Investment, Nippon Keidanren, Koichi Danno; Assistant to the President of the European Union and Member of the Cabinet Office, Sandro Gozi; Managing Director of the Parmalat Group, Francesco Giuffreddi; Managing Director of Tata Limited, UK, Syed Anwar Hasan; Italy's Director - General for Cooperation, Giandomenico Magliano; President, National Confederation of Employers of Senegal, Cama Mansour; Tanzania's Minister for Industries and Commerce, Juma Ngasongwa; Nigeria's A.I. Director, Planning, Research and Statistics (PRS), Department of Industry, Mrs. Oladapo; former Minister of Power of India, Suresh Prabhu; and Argentine's Secretary for Trade and International Economic Relations, Martin Redrado. UNIDO staff, including its three new Managing Directors and Field Representatives also participated.
Subsequent issues of UNIDOScope, looked at highlights of various presentations. See:
UNIDOScope 20 - 26 October 2002 The New Industrial
Revolution - Michael Braungart at Venice II
UNIDOScope 27 October - 2 November 2002 Developing
Countries and TRIPS - David Mowery at Venice II
UNIDOScope 3 - 9 November 2002 The Art of Policy -
Grzegorz Kolodko at Venice II
UNIDOScope 10 - 16 November 2002 Agenda 2000 - A Model
for the Millennium? - Paolo De Castro at Venice II
UNIDOScope 17 - 23 November 2002 Alternative Paths to
Prosperity ~ Necessary and Sufficient Conditions - Adrian Wood at Venice II
UNIDOScope 24 - 30 November 2002 Globalization - The New
Wild West? Eduardo Aninat at Venice II
Francisco Sercovich, Tel:
+431 26026 / 3079, E-mail: F.Sercovich@unido.org
Round Table on Economic Development
and the Satisfaction of Social Demand in Latin America
Vienna, Austria, 30 September,
2002
 signatories to the Central America Trade Facilitation Initiative |
Vice - Presidents José Miguel Insulza of Chile, Juan Francisco Reyes López of Guatemala, Raúl Diez
Canseco Terry of Peru and Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining of Uruguay, Sergio Abreu, were at
UNIDO headquarters in Vienna on 30 September, 2002, as panelists on a round table on Economic
Development and the Satisfaction of Social Demand in Latin America. UNIDO Director - General
Carlos Magariños chaired the round table. On the same day, the panelists also witnessed the signing
of the UNIDO Integrated Programme for Guatemala and on Tuesday, 1 October, 2002, the signing of the
UNIDO Central American Trade Facilitation initiative.
Director - General Magariños set the tone for the round table with the observation that "People in Latin America and Eastern Europe did not support market-based reforms in and of themselves, or per se... or because they helped the process of democratization. They supported them because they viewed wealth and positive income increase as related to the increase in productivity of the economy, related to these reforms". The Director - General presented a conceptualization of this idea in diagrammatic form, showing the "underpinnings of long term productivity growth" as an interrelationship between the incentive system: the macro and micro- economic policies implemented by a given country and the supply of public goods, and put the question to the round table "has this been occuring in Latin America during the 1990s? Has this interrelationship existed"?... The Director - General then gave examples what UNIDO saw as "the most effective way of working on the process" by outlining activities undertaken by UNIDO in Peru, Guatemala, Uruguay and Chile which focus on technological change and innovation through the private sector.
All the panelists spoke openly about the need for the poor of the world to see reforms as something beneficial, the shortcomings of their various governments in meeting this need and the importance of making efforts to provide the right conditions for their small and medium industries to prosper. Vice President Terry of Peru, the last of the panelists to speak in the first round, reflected the consensus of the group when he said there was a need to provide "mechanisms for citizen participation, and if we do not do that, our reforms will fall be the wayside...we must strengthen our institutions... what we have had in the last 10 years, is a systematic de-institutionalization and so we lost our main pillar for the defence of reforms". There was also consensus on the need to combine a socio-economic vision with a decentralization strategy at the regional, provincial and communal level as a tool to "help us eliminate social inequality and promote equity, competitiveness and growth".
In his concluding remarks, Director - General Magariños said he hoped the sentiments expressed at
the round table would have a positive impact on the UNIDO Industrial Development Board meeting in
November, 2002, which will be deciding on the strategic role to be played by the Organization. The
Director - General pointed out that "none of these leaders came with a speech where they said that
the Latin American problem is one of the international community, or that it should be solved through
voluntary contrubutions or otherwise. Most of these countries finance their own programmes"... but
"... I do not think that the international community can eternally ignore the fact that Latin
America, an entire region, has undertaken the institutional and macro- economic reforms that were
required, and despite their efforts see their poverty grow". The contributions of the panelists and
the proposals arising from the round table will be published by UNIDO in the near future. Background
information on the round table and existing UNIDO initiatives aimed at improving productivity and
competitiveness in the region is available here
for viewing or downloading.
Gustavo Aishemberg,
Tel: +43 1 26026/3330, E-mail: G.Aishemberg@unido.org
UNIDO ITPO Tokyo Celebrates 50 Year Sri Lanka - Japan Anniversary
Fukuoka, Tokyo, Osaka, Japan, 30 September, 2, 4 October, 2002 Sri Lanka's Minister of Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy & Investment Promotion, Prof. G. L. Peiris (view or download seminar gallery) |
The UNIDO Investment Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) Tokyo,
held Investment Promotion Seminars in the Japanese cities of Fukuoka, Tokyo and Osaka to mark the
50th Anniversary of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Japan. Sri Lanka's Minister of
Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy & Investment, Prof. G. L. Peiris, made a key note
speech at each of the seminars on the current economic situation in Sri Lanka, focussing on the
country's industrial and investment strategy. Minister Peiris, who acted as chief government
negotiator at the peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels in mid
September 2002 in Thailand, also briefed the audience on the improvements in security in the
country.
Other speakers included Mr. Santhusht Jayasuriya, Deputy Director General of Sri Lanka's Board of Investment, a representative of the Sri Lanka Software Exporters Association and representatives of three Japanese companies (ceramics, electronics and IT software) currently operating in Sri Lanka. The seminar in Tokyo was followed by one-to-one business meetings organized by ITPO Tokyo for the Sri Lanka IT business delegation. The interest of Japanese businesses in Sri Lanka has been perceived as quite high, especially among the IT software industry. The three seminars attracted over 300 participants.
The Sri Lankan Board of Investment staff member Christian Ignatius, who is working with UNIDO's
ITPO Tokyo under its delegate programme from 9 September to 8 November 2002, attended all three
seminars along with ITPO staff. Mr. Ignatius, working under the supervision of ITPO investment
promotion specialist, Ms. Ikue Toshinga, will follow up on the seminars. Mr. Ignatius joined the
Board of Investment in 1985, after working in the private sector and for Ceylon Electricity Board.
View or download ITPO - Sri Lanka Seminar Gallery
Ms. Ikue Toshinga, ITPO
Tokyo, E-mail: Itoshinaga@unido.or.jp
COMING SOON
 |
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Second Assembly will be held
in Beijing, China, from October 16 to October 18, 2002. Governments are encouraged to send
ministerial or other high-level representatives who are familiar with the GEF and the operations
financed by the GEF. Assembly participants will review the general policies and operations of the
GEF. The GEF Council will meet on October 14 and 15, and a consultation for
nongovernment organizations will be held on October 13. A complete list of meetings and side
events, as well as information about registration and travel arrangements, is available via the GEF
2nd Assembly page www.gefonline.org/assembly/assembly.htm.
13th International Training Programme on Industrial Project Preparation and Appraisal with
Special Focus on Fruit and Vegetable Processing Sector 2 - 20 December, 2002, Mysore,
Karnataka, India. The programme is offered by the Inter-Regional Centre (IRC) for Entrepreneurship
and Investment Training created by UNIDO and Government of India at Entrepreneurship Development
Institute of India (EDI). See www.unido.org/doc/521857.htmls for
details.
Joseph Moongananiyil Tel :
+431 26026/3869, E-mail jmoongananiyil@unido.org
 |
Post- Senegal (see story) NEPAD follow-up by International Organizations and business associations covers the calendar and the globe for the remainder of 2002. (details) |
Send your comments to the editor: K.Timmins@unido.org
