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ISO and UNIDO reinforce partnership for sustainable development(Time:2010-03-23 17:15:00)

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to reinforce their partnership in favour of sustainable development.
                                   
Director-General of UNIDO, Kandeh K. Yumkella (left), and Secretary-General of ISO, Rob Steele (right), at the signature of the MoU in Vienna.

Photo: Nancy Falcon-Castro

The MoU was signed on 23 June 2009 in Vienna, Austria by the ISO Secretary-General, Rob Steele, and the UNIDO Director-General, Kandeh K. Yumkella.
This new agreement strengthens the long-standing strategic partnership between the two organizations in order to promote sustainable development and economic growth through standards development and implementation, capacity building and training, joint publications and related research.
Under this MoU, ISO and UNIDO will undertake joint projects including seminars and workshops organization at the regional, sub-regional and national levels on topics such as:

• Standardization practice
• Environmental and energy management
• Food safety
• Energy use and energy efficiency
• Social responsibility
• Conformity assessment.

ISO and UNIDO have a long and fruitful history of cooperation and the agreement will increase the effectiveness of their joint efforts and enhance coordination of their complementary and mutually supportive activities by encouraging the widest use of standards and assist developing countries and economies in transition benefit as they become more involved in the global economy.
An illustration of the long-standing and successful partnership between ISO and UNIDO is the book Fast forward – National Standards Bodies in Developing Countries which was published in 2008 to help developing countries and economies in transition develop the optimal organization and use of a national standardization infrastructure as a lever for their economic development, trading capacity and a support for consumer, social and environmental protection.
The two organizations have collaborated to produce a new book on conformity assessment which will be published later this year.

(Source: http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1233)