United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO)

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What is UNIDO?

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. Its mandate is to promote and accelerate sustainable industrial development in developing countries and economies in transition, and work towards improving living conditions in the world’s poorest countries by drawing on its combined global resources and expertise.

UNIDO works with developing countries and economies in transition, where it promotes and accelerates industrialization as a source of economic growth needed to fight poverty. At the same time, it helps protect the environment by supporting clean and sustainable industrial development.

As a technical cooperation agency, it designs and implements programmes focused on three thematic priorities, which directly respond to global development priorities. These priorities are:

Poverty reduction through productive activities
Trade capacity-building
Environment and Energy

What does the Brussels Liaison Office do?

LI Yong, Director-General of UNIDO

The responsibility of the UNIDO Office in Brussels is to ensure adequate representation in Brussels to strengthen UNIDO’s visibility and interaction with the European Union (EU) and its institutions, the ACP Secretariat, the Centre for the Development of Enterprise, the UN System in Brussels and the Belgian Authorities. The office also maintains a close liaison with Member State Missions located in Brussels and has a liaison function to the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg and to the Luxembourgian authorities.

The main objective of the UNIDO office in Brussels is to continue to further develop the partnership between the European Union and UNIDO, with a focus on UNIDO’s priority areas: poverty reduction through productive activities, trade capacity-building and environment and energy. The main activities of the staff are to:

Facilitate the strategic positioning of UNIDO on critical development issues, including resource mobilization.
Identify emerging opportunities for enhancing UNIDO’s cooperation with the EU.
Advocate for UNIDO policies and expertise.
Liaise and coordinate UNIDO’s activities with the UN system in Brussels and other strategic partners such as the ACP Secretariat and CDE.
Represent UNIDO at political and inter-agency meetings.
Prepare and deliver statements on behalf of UNIDO.
Provide advice to UNIDO headquarters on issues related to its interaction with the EU.

Reports

Ten Years of UNIDO and European Union Cooperation: A Partnership for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development: ENG FR
UNIDO – ACP Cooperation Report: Investing in ACP Sustainable Prosperity: ENG FR
Links to other UNIDO Stories from the field, Publications, and Open Data Platform