23 January 2009: Kandeh Yumkella, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Director-General, and Tair Mansurov, Secretary-General of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between the two organizations, at UNIDO headquarters in Vienna, Austria. The MoC provides new cooperation prospects between UNIDO and EurAsEC countries in areas such as: energy and climate change; the environment, including water management; agro-industries; trade capacity building and private sector development.

According to Secretary-General Mansurov, EurAsEc is interested in developing technical cooperation programmes in collaboration with UNIDO, focusing on, inter alia, energy efficiency and renewable energy, and on innovative technologies, such as biotechnologies and nanotechnologies. As a next step to the signing of the agreement, UNIDO and EurAsEC will develop a portfolio of technical cooperation projects for EurAsEC countries, for which financial support will be ensured through voluntary contributions of UNIDO member States and other donors. [UNIDO Press Release]