UNIDO assures Nepal of full technical support for industrial development

United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has committed to support Nepal in its drive for inclusive and sustainable industrial development and assured to engage with Nepal on fullest possible scale through various projects to be worked out jointly through a programme mission to be fielded soon by UNIDO.

Speaking with trade secretary Krishna Gyawali, today morning, director general of UNIDO Li Yong – at the sidelines of the general conference of UNIDO, promised to continue the UNIDO support for Nepal.

Gyawali had asked him to 'reactivate UNIDO’s support to Nepal which has gone slack for some time'.

Gyawali has particularly requested for UNIDO support in four areas enhancing industrial energy efficiency in manufacturing industries that largely consume fossil fuel, installing online industries registration system  in order for moving them eventually to ‘single registration system’, statistical improvement in industry census and developing Integrated Industrial Information Management System (IIIMS) in the ministry and departments, and supporting trade facilitation and capacity development measures through developing well-equipped, quality labs for product testing and certification and creating accreditation body for accrediting those labs as per the accepted international standard.

Li – a high-level Chinese technocrat, who recently took over from Kandeh Yumkella of Sierra Leone – also thanked the secretary for his active participation in the conference.

Gyawali also met with the chief of the Technical Programme Development and Technical Cooperation Division and acting managing director Philippe Scholtes and discussed in detail about how and in which areas Nepal and UNIDO should restart working together.

Meanwhile, Nepal took part in the 15^th general session of UNIDO in the Peruvian capital of Lima on December 2-6.

Gyawali, who headed the Nepali delegation, addressing the plenary session of the conference, praised the current theme of the conference that focuses ‘sustainable and inclusive industrial development’.

"The organisation should support Least Developed Countries (LDCs) like Nepal through 'sufficient technical and knowledge intervention'," he said, stressing that Nepal needs to undertake a two-prong strategy of industrial development that appropriately focuses developing large-scale, growth-contributing manufacturing industries to jump start the economy as well as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for poverty alleviation. "While the government needs to work as promoter and facilitator for achieving the first task, it needs to primarily invest its resources for meeting the other."

Gyawali, on the occasion, also highlighted the importance of private sector development through creating a common platform like Nepal Business Forum (NBF) that is being successfully launched in Nepal.

Seeking the organisation’s assistance in developing renewable energy resources for what he termed 'greening the brown sector', meaning industries in modern times must be clean, green and climate-smart, he suggested the need for developing and disseminating the green technology that is affordable, cost-effective and reliable.

The general conference is the apex body of UNIDO and it convenes in every two years. The conference this year also adopted Lima Declaration highlighting the agenda of industrial development linking it with sustainable development goals beyond 2015.