Partnerships for Trade Capacity-Building

World Trade Organization (WTO)
WTO and UNIDO are truly complementary: while the core mandate of WTO is to foster the opening-up of trade in a manner that supports the developmental priorities of developing countries, the mandate of UNIDO is to support developing countries as they build up the industrial and productive capacities they need to exploit the benefits to be derived from more open trade. Thus, WTO and UNIDO focus their joint activities on trade capacity-building and on developing technical cooperation programmes towards developing manufacturing and export capacities in selected industrial sectors. UNIDO is a key contributor to the "Aid for Trade" initiative: the Organization has identified multi-agency supply-side development projects in eight pilot countries (Benin, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal and Yemen) that will draw on the initial analyses contained in the EIF diagnostic trade integration studies. UNIDO also actively contributes to the WTO-led Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) on Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) issues, which is an inter-agency coordination mechanism that analyzes trade-related challenges.

United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) inter-agency cluster on trade and productive capacity
UNIDO works alongside the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Trade Centre (ITC), WTO, UNDP and the five UN regional commissions as part of the CEB inter-agency cluster on trade and productive capacity. The cluster’s primary aim is to mainstream trade into poverty reduction, ensuring the inclusion of trade and productive capacity in poverty reduction strategy papers and United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs). The cluster also provides assistance in the development of policies designed to improve the trade performance and productive capacities of developing countries.

European Commission (EC)
The European Commission and UNIDO are cooperating on the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), which are WTO-compatible trade and development arrangements between the European Union and six African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions, namely: Central Africa, East and Southern Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. At the request of the ACP EPA regional groupings, UNIDO is formulating programmes for the upgrading and modernization of the industrial sector with the objectives of strengthening the productive and trade capacities and export competitiveness of SMEs, enhancing the quality infrastructure; and upgrading technical support institutions providing services for industrial sectors with a high potential for generating exports and employment.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
UNIDO’s cooperation with ISO is centred on support in the formulation of industrial standards, and on their dissemination through training and capacity-building activities. In the field of trade capacity-building, UNIDO provided input to the development of the ISO 26000 standard on Social Responsibility to Small and Medium Enterprises, and through its Corporate Social Responsibility Programme will play a substantial role in preparing smaller enterprises operating in developing countries for its implementation.