29 June 2010: During an official visit to Azerbaijan, Kandeh Yumkella, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Director-General, highlighted that energy and environment remain a priority area of cooperation.

He explained that, although all three UNIDO thematic priorities, including trade capacity-building and poverty reduction through productive activities, are promoted in the region, the energy and environment theme remains the priority thematic area. Yumkella highlighted UNIDO’s interest in designing regional programmes that would focus on trade capacity-building, investment and technology promotion, corporate social responsibility (CSR), quality and standardization. He also discussed a possible resource efficient and cleaner production programme for Azerbaijan that would target the non-oil sector. [UNIDO Press Release]