UNIDO, Microsoft extend partnership on e-initiatives

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Microsoft have agreed to extend their partnership to use e-initiatives to create new opportunities for employment, enhance industrial productivity and strengthen sound environmental practices.

The partnership extension letter was signed June 20, 2012 by Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director-General of UNIDO, and Orlando Ayala, Chairman Emerging Markets, Microsoft, on the margins of the just-ended Rio+20 Summit, according to a statement issued by the UN agency.

The partnership began in 2006, with the aim of harnessing the role of ICT in the micro- small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) of developing countries and economies in transition.

Over the last six years, the statement said, the collaboration has evolved and resulted in the establishment of the AfrIPAnet investment monitoring platform, a computer refurbishment and e-waste initiative, and most recently, the launch of the Microsoft Innovation Centre in Uganda.

At the signing ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, the representatives of the two organizations expressed their joint commitment to foster sustainable industrial development and positive social change through the use of innovative ICT solutions in Africa, and agreed to extend the partnership until September 2015.

By Ekow Quandzie