CIIC History

The UNIDO Centre for International Industrial Cooperation (CIIC) traces its origin to December 1989, when the agreements, signed earlier in the Vienna International Centre by the Director General of UNIDO D. Siazon and deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers N. Laverov, came into force, namely, the Agreement on the UNIDO Centre for International Industrial Cooperation in Russia and the Trust Fund Agreement. The Government imposed the cooperation with UNIDO on the State Committee for Science and Technology, which allocated the office premises for the Centre at the subordinated International Centre for Scientific and Technical Information. The signed documents determined that the office in Moscow will be an integral part of UNIDO, and a special trust fund was established under a separate agreement between UNIDO and the Government to finance the CIIC. Thus, a UNIDO unit, that was designed to develop the scientific and industrial cooperation of Russian companies with partners from developed and developing countries, was formed and began its work in Moscow.

The UNIDO Centre always strived to answer the most conversational questions and involve the most relevant international experience, knowledge and technology. In the early 90s, the Centre devoted special attention to the promotion of market mechanisms in the Russian economy. Training program on methods and practices of identification, development, assessment and financial analysis of industrial investment projects was established. The methods and software for analysis of investment projects developed by UNIDO, especially COMFAR, were very successful among the Russian companies and became the basis for today’s popular computer programs on financial analysis, that take into account the specifics of the Russian legislation. The large UNIDO international investment forums conducted for the Russian regions allowed domestic enterprises to master the methods of developing attractive investment project proposals and establish business contacts with potential partners and investors, which at that time was far from a simple task as it is today.

The formation and development of the Russian market determined the most demanded forms of cooperation with UNIDO. In the late 90s integrated technical cooperation programmes came to the fore. The progremmes covered a wide range of problems in areas such as technology forecasting (Foresight), inter-country cooperation in the field of technological exchange, promotion of agricultural enterprises, competitiveness improvement of the shoe industry, quality management in small and medium-sized enterprises, energy efficiency and cleaner production, regional industrial development.

After the Russian Federation became the donor country (Russian Federation annually contributes 2.6 million USD to UNIDO Industrial Development Fund) the emphasis in cooperation lays on implementation of projects aimed at supporting and developing the industrial sector, introduction of international standards in the field of education, energy, environment, water, attraction of investments into the country’s economy, environmental conservation and protection, creation of effective mechanisms for hazardous waste treatment, as well as implementation of Russia’s obligations under international protocols and conventions (the Montreal Protocol, the Stockholm Convention , the Basel Convention and others).