Brussels, 8 November 2014/ ACP: Leaders of the Secretariats of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP Group) met Tuesday to explore together how to promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation in ACP countries.

The exchange, supported by the MOU and relationship agreement signed between UNIDO and the ACP in 2011, was held in the margins of the 2nd UNIDO Forum to promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) Investment in Vienna, Austria on 4-5 November.

At the forum, ACP Secretary General H.E Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni highlighted a key ongoing programme developed by the organisations to promote investment and stimulate competitive industries in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

“The ACP Secretariat developed with UNIDO a pilot programme labelled the Investment Monitoring Platform (IMP) funded by the Intra-ACP envelope of the 9th European Development Fund and other partners. From its inception phase, it targeted 20 African countries with the aim of providing them the tools and building local capacities to monitor and manage the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) [and] interlink investment promotion with private sector development and SME [Small and Medium Enterprise] support,” he told the forum.

The IMP is a global web-based tool to analyse, research, and share investment data for the public and private sector, hosting in-depth information on almost 7000 companies in the target countries. The platform also allows surveyed companies to easily showcase their products and services while fostering business-to-business matchmaking.

One of its major achievements was facilitating positive multi-donor coordination that enhanced FDI flows management into the recipient countries. As a result, ACP member states through their Brussels-based Committee of Ambassadors recommended that the IMP programme be extended to the rest of its membership, including 79 countries in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific.

Mr. Mumuni said that with the extended coverage, the new programme will help to address the lack of easily accessible enterprise level data and information that facilitates assessment of FDI quality, strengthen policy advocacy on the part of private sector intermediary groups and investment promotion agencies, and help ACP countries to embrace a new investment promotion culture that goes beyond image building and branding.

The programme corresponds with the comprehensive private sector development strategy recently adopted by the ACP Group for all its member states.

“We are committed to joint efforts to build and strengthen the capacity of the public and private sectors in ACP countries and regions for the development of the inclusive, competitive and environmentally friendly industries in line with national and regional development strategies,” said Mr. Mumuni.

This week's forum was the second of two forums held in 2014 in light of UNIDO’s new mandate to promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID). The first one, held in June, engaged Member States in a dialogue to formulate strategies and policies that promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development. The key outcomes of the first Forum serve as the foundation for the second Forum, which will extend the impact and outreach of ISID goals by strengthening the partnership dialogue between UNIDO and various partners including the ACP Group, in order to scale up investment for inclusive and sustainable industrial development in developing countries.

– ACP Press

For all media enquiries, contact Josephine Latu-Sanft, Press Officer, +32 2 743 0617 or latu@acp.int.