September 2008: In a contribution to the September 2008 special issue of the ISO Focus magazine, Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), notes the lack of capacity of most developing countries to participate in the global trade of manufactured goods.

He stresses that this has a bearing on the efficiency of a country’s economy and ability to produce and trade, and that UNIDO thus supports small and medium enterprises to comply with International Standards and regulations as well as national standards bodies to participate as full members in international standards organizations. As Chairman of UN-Energy, Yumkella explains he is working towards combining efforts to combat climate change and promote energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy. He outlines UNIDO’s efforts related to the implementation of energy efficiency and management systems in developing countries, with a view to also enhancing their participation in the standardization process, giving the example of a project in China and its collaboration with the International Standardization Organization. He concludes by stressing the need of developing countries to strengthen their capabilities in quality, standardization and conformity assessment, and to participate more actively in related international activities in order to benefit from the current globalized market economy. [The Statement]