The International Trade Centre (ITC) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) will further increase collaboration in support of developing countries in Africa and Asia.

This was discussed in a meeting between the deputy to the UNIDO director-general, Taizo Nishikawa, and the deputy executive director of the ITC, Dorothy Tembo in a meeting in Vienna on 3 February 2015.

An initial focus will be on Ethiopia, Senegal and Sri Lanka with aims to enhance trade capacity, quality standards, business competitiveness, youth job creation, value chain development, increase in investments and export promotion.

Both UNIDO and ITC intend to work towards greater complementarity and synergy in their efforts to improve economic opportunities and growth in developing countries in particular within the context of the Programmes for Country Partnerships developed for Ethiopia and Senegal.

This collaboration will also explore opportunities to support an ITC-led project in Sri Lanka on trade and capacity building and SME internationalisation which is expected to be launched in 2016.

UNIDO and ITC will also share experiences and best practices on results measurement as a way to enhance the effectiveness of their technical assistance programmes.