| By decision of the 52nd session of the Economic Commission for Europe, the Industry and Technology Division has been abolished on 22 May 1997. However, several activities (Chemical Industry, Steel Industry, Standardization) have been transferred to the Trade Division. For the ease of the visitor to these web pages, the old structure of the pages has been retained. However, the transferred activities can also be consulted from the Trade Division web page. |
Before it was abolished,
the areas of the Division's activities were as follows:
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Science
and Technology Regional
Industrial Development Promotion (now transferred to the Coordination
Unit for Operational Activities)Chemical
Industry (now transferred to the Enterprise Development section of
the Trade Division)Steel
Industry (now transferred to the Enterprise Development section of
the Trade Division)Engineering
Industries and Automation Standardization
Policy (now transferred to the Trade Division)THERE ARE NO EASY ANSWERS TO DIFFICULT QUESTIONS
The Industry Division has issued a publication to mark the Jubilee Anniversary Session of UN/ECE. This publication is entitled Sustainable Industrial Development and draws on the findings of the Round Table Conference on Cooperation for Sustainable Development, held during the 51st session of ECE and chaired by Percy Barnevik, Chairman of ABB Asea Brown Boveri. It tries to answer the following questions:
and it also covers other pertinent issues such as the development of human resources, the necessary legal framework, and the facilitation of international trade.
For further information, please contact Mr. Christopher Smith (tel. +41-22-917 32 98) at the address hereunder, or consult the press release. To order the document (No. E.97.II.E.4), follow this link.
Profound economic and technological changes have occurred in recent years in all sectors of industry and, in particular, in the chemical, steel and engineering industries and in information technology. These can be expected to affect the pattern of development in these sectors of industry as well as in general at an accelerated rate during the next decade.
The main task for industrial development at the dawn of the twenty-first century is to make sustainable industrial development - a guiding principle in economic growth in the above-mentioned sectors of industry and the industry in general.
In the economies in transition in central and eastern Europe and in the Newly Independent States, there is an urgent need for industrial restructuring and revitalization of both industrial sectors and formerly centrally planned industrial enterprises as well as for ownership reform trough privatization in order to allow industry to operate effectively under market-economy conditions and become integrated with the global economy.
A cornerstone of the transition process must be industrial policy. This calls for a clear understanding of, and agreement on, the role of Governments in encouraging market forces and in industrial restructuring. Under the conditions presently prevailing in the economies in transition, this role has to be very different from that played by the Governments of these countries in the past.
The Industry and Technology Division (ITD) and its staff are helping member States, especially countries in transition, to get better acquainted with the overall nature of industry, structural changes and development by researching trends affecting the chemical, steel and engineering industries; monitoring and assessing trends in those sectors; preparing techno-economic studies; assisting in organizing workshops, seminars and meetings, providing technical assistance to Governments and advising them in question of their request and of high priorities.
ITD covers six areas of the activities which analyse, develop and promote capabilities in national industries as a whole as well as in specific industrial subsectors, and pay special attention to the implementation of such activities in an ecologically and environmentally sustainable manner. Special emphasis is placed on the analysis of the nature and difficulties of the transition process and policy questions, reform reviews and assistance needs for the economies in transition for their integration in the European and global economy.
The Division's activities are described in the following pages:
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Regional
Industrial Development Promotion (now transferred to the Coordination
Unit for Operational Activities)
Chemical
Industry (now transferred to the Enterprise Development section
of the Trade Division)
Steel
Industry (now transferred to the Enterprise Development section of
the Trade Division)
Engineering
Industries and Automation
Standardization
Policy (now transferred to the Trade Division)
Address all inquiries concerning the former Industry and Technology Division and the remaining activities to:
Catalog of Publications of the Industry
& Technology Division 
and
How to order
UN-ECE Home
Page 
Continue
(Science & Technology)