UNIDO-UNEP: Establishing a National Cleaner Production Centre in Mauritius

MAURITIUS, 27-30 April 2009 - A Joint UNIDO-UNEP Team was on mission in Mauritius to lay the foundation for the establishment of a National Cleaner Production Centre in Mauritius following a request from the Government of Mauritius. The Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mauritius, through the UNIDO Focal Point, played an instrumental role to set-up and organise the mission. Meetings were held with a wide-range of stakeholders including government bodies; private organisations & industries; support institutions/parastatals; universities; and development partners.

The recommended setting up of the Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) Programme by UNIDO-UNEP comes at an opportune moment as Mauritius defines its strategy to make ‘Maurice-Ile Durable’, the vision of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius for a sustainable island.

One of the outcomes of this joint mission has been to shortlist potential institutions that could host the initial RECP programme for three years after which a tender exercise will be undertaken to determine the institution or organization more apt to be the RECP centre. 

The mission had a de-briefing session with Honourable Dharambeer GOKHOOL, Minister of Industry, Science and Research in the presence of Senior officials of the respective Ministry.

A wrap-up session was also organised with all stakeholders to provide key observations of the mission and propose the way forward.

The Next steps:

• Evaluation of host institution by UNIDO/UNEP Expert/s – June/July 2009
• Preparation of Full Project Document for RECP Programme June/July
• Validation Workshop in Mauritius – September 2009