11 March 2009: A Preparatory Meeting to the International Conference on Green Industry in Asia, hosted by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), convened in Bangkok, Thailand, from 4-5 March 2009. Participants agreed that the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) will organize a session on cleaner production, UNESCAP on sustaining growth and competitiveness, and the UN Environment Programme on eco-friendly products and environmental services. The International Conference on Green Industry in Asia, “Managing the Transition to Resource-efficient and Low Carbon Industries,” is being organized by UNIDO, UNESCAP and UNEP and will convene in Manila, the Philippines, from 8-11 September 2009.

The event will bring together policy makers, industrialists and experts who will exchange experiences and views on policies and strategies to integrate sustainability into the industrial development process on optimizing energy, water and raw material use in the production process, and on the development of new value and supply chains around industry-related environmental goods and services. During the event, UNIDO is also scheduled to launch its Green Industry Initiative, which will help industry support institutions and government bodies promote low-carbon paths to industrial development, efficient use of non-energy raw materials, and will assist in the recycling of industrial and non-industrial wastes as a substitute to virgin raw materials. [UNIDO Press Release]