Cernobbio, September 27th - UNIDO ITPO Italy participated to the 8th edition of the World Manufacturing Forum (WMF), held on September 25th-27th at Villa Erba in Cernobbio (Italy): an annual event which seeks to raise awareness on the manufacturing’s World and 4IR, attended this year by over 1500 people.

Within this framework, UNIDO HQs in collaboration with ITPO Italy organized a plenary panel about Developing Countries “Policy Framework for Industrial Skills Development in Emerging Countries”. The session, opened on September 26th, was featured by the intervention of Olga Memedovic - Deputy Director and Chief of Business Environment, Cluster and Innovation Division of UNIDO, who illustrated the new challenges affecting manufacturing skills of developing countries and the related solutions implemented by UNIDO, including in the field of education.

HE Ahmad Sukhera - Secretary of Commerce of Pakistan, Jurgen Tiedje - Head of Unit at the DG Research and Innovation at EU, Afia Owosu-Forfie - Director of Women Who Code Accra from Ghana, Joyce Njogu - Head of Consulting Kenya Association of Manufacturers also joined the session. It’s worth mentioning that the panel was the only one recorded a higher number of women than men among the speakers, particularly appreciated by the public and in line with UNIDO’s efforts to increasingly integrate the SDGs #5 and #9.

Moreover, confirming the commitment stated by the Joint Declaration signed in 2018 between World Manufacturing Foundation and UNIDO, ITPO Italy organized an ad hoc meeting with the President of WMF, Alberto Ribolla and the GM Rossella Luglietti to discuss about new synergies to be enhanced with UNIDO for the next WMF’s edition, scheduled for June 11-12, 2020.