UNIDO's Arab Programme
The Gulf States for instance have seen an exceptional oil boom and are experienced in spurring on growth and development in other industrial sectors, while some Arab countries still face conflict and post-crisis issues.
The region will need entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises to promote the growth of a new dynamic private sector as an engine of sustainable development, to create the infrastructure for innovation and to implement environmentally sound technologies as well as clean energy technologies.
The key to the region’s success is to create new jobs for the young entering the workforce. Other countries in the region are still struggling to attract sustainable foreign direct investments. Accordingly, UNIDO supports the role of Governments in the region to play a more crucial part in facilitating foreign direct investment inflows and formulating effective policies.
These policies should reflect the concepts of adopting a progressive economic philosophy that encourages investments, trade facilitation, easier access to markets, maintaining a stable macro and social environment as well as enhancing the role of the private sector to diversify the economic base.
As the premier agency assisting global economies to achieve a sustainable level of industrialization, UNIDO promotes the vitality of the private sector as one of the main driving force of industrial development through changing patterns of international production, investment and trade.
Through its service modules the UNIDO Arab Programme supports the formulation of industrial strategies that encourage the private sector - through small and medium size enterprises - to play a leading role in creating employment, income and value added. In this respect, the UNIDO Arab Programme provides technical assistance and the transfer of environmentally sound technologies to industrialists that enable them to overcome these limitations, while also supporting the role of the Government in facilitating foreign direct investment flows.
With the vast potential for more developed countries in the South to support other developing countries, UNIDO aims to actively and catalytically bridge the gap for these potentials to be realized. Systematic mechanisms are needed for promoting South-South cooperation and maximizing its impact. These include institutional arrangements such as global mechanisms that could be used to coordinate assistance between and among developing countries.
In this regard, the UNIDO Arab Programme’s efforts primarily focus on the exchange of experience and expertise in industrial policy orientation, formulation and implementation. For this to happen, advocating national and local innovation systems to use modern technology and to enhance adaptive capabilities in utilizing new knowledge is necessary. The aim is to replicate best practice for poverty reduction through industrial development and grassroots innovation. Once these foundations are laid, economies can benefit from institutional and enterprise networking with the goal to enhance productive capacities, trade, technology and investment flows.
