UNIDO expresses its appreciation for the Government of China’s support on the fifth Anniversary of the establishment of the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund
08 July 2021
BEIJING, 8 July 2021 – LI Yong, the Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) expressed his appreciation for the support of the Government of China on the 5th Anniversary of the establishment of the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund (SSCAF).
“The SSCAF greatly contributes to achieving the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development”, said Li. “It is an effective modality for South-South cooperation to support Member States in their recovery from the COVID crisis”.
Currently, the SSCAF is funding the “Capacity building to upgrade the livestock value chain in Ethiopia” project within the framework of the Programme for Country Partnership (PCP) for Ethiopia, which features a triangular cooperation between UNIDO, Ethiopia and China to improve the competitiveness of Ethiopia’s meat value chain by sharing knowledge and skills among key southern stakeholders such as the Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia and the General Administration of Customs of China.
As part of UNIDO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SSCAF also funds the “Emergency response assistance to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Islamic Republic of Iran” project, which is based on the good practices derived from the UNIDO project to support China in responding to and preventing the spread of COVID-19. The emergency project will provide essential equipment needed by medical health practitioners and the necessary training to medical waste treatment operators. The project highlights how critical it is to bring global expertise to scale, in particular for southern countries to learn from each other’s green recovery efforts and build back better.
“UNIDO and the Government of China have a long history of cooperation in promoting South-South cooperation”, said Director General LI Yong. “Moving forward, UNIDO will continue to work closely with China and the SSCAF to achieve inclusive and sustainable industrial development and to support our Member States in achieving the SDG 9 goals, and the 2030 Agenda”.
The celebration was organized by the Ministry of Commerce of China and the China International Development Cooperation Agency; it was attended by numerous representatives from embassies and international organizations in China.