At the elections that took place at the closing session of the 14th General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) today, 2nd December 2011, Sri Lanka was elected by consensus to the UNIDO Industrial Development Board (IDB) for a term of 4 years. Sri Lanka is among 26 countries which were elected to this important forum.

The UNIDO Industrial Development Board is a main body of the Organization which deals with policy issues in the arena of industrial development, with an authority to make recommendations on the effective implementation of core aspects of its mandate.

The Working Group on the Future of UNIDO established by the Industrial Development Board in May 2011 is already considering issues relevant to strengthening of the organization, through the enhancement of its core competencies. The technical cooperation portfolio of the organization currently stands at US $ 186 million.

Minister of External Affairs, Prof G.L. Peiris welcomed the election of Sri Lanka to the Industrial Development Board. He stressed that this is an important development as Sri Lanka is embarked on a massive economic development proorgramme, with more focus on achieving sustainable growth in the industrial sector. Greening Sri Lanka’s industry is one of the main objectives of the Mahinda Chintanaya, which sets out he policies.

The delegation of Sri Lanka to the 14th General Conference of UNIDO was led by A.L.A. Azeez, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in Vienna. Satya Rodrigo, Minister-Counsellor served as a Vice Chair of the Main Committee.