Industrial policy: UNIDO approach and lessons from

global implementation

Michele ClaraResearch, Statistics and Industrial Policy Branch

6 May 2014

A renaissance from what?• “There was a time when industrial policies ... were

bad words not to be spoken either in public or in private by respectable people” argued Joseph Stiglitz

• … but surely not here at UNIDO …– At the core of the 1975 Lima Declaration …

– … and still central in the one approved at the UNIDO General Conference in Lima in December 2013

• Growth through structural change, and in particular industrialization, a legitimate aspiration in almost all developing countries and a key political objective

• Key question to UNIDO has never been “if” but “how”

Industrial Policy at UNIDO

• Improvements in quality of policies and of implementation capacities as KPI for most of UNIDO activities in P&B document

• Evidence-based, stakeholders driven, M&E friendly

• Internal division of labour between design of industrialization strategies/specific policies and support to their implementation

• Emphasis on synergy on the basis of shared diagnostic tools

Strategic Industrial Policy Advice• Focus on diagnostics of industrial performance

and on industrial strategy-setting

• Based on quantitative evidence (linkage with statistics and research) and benchmarking

• No pre-set position on prioritization of any specific policy instrument (de-linked from TC mandate)

• Scope for multi-disciplinarity among instruments (honest broker function)

• Integrated focus on advice + capacity building + facilitation of policy processes

Industrial DiagnosisIndustrial Diagnosis

Industrial Strategy Design

Industrial Strategy Design

Industrial Policy Design

Industrial Policy Design

Implementation and Evaluation

Implementation and Evaluation

Capacity Development

Capacity Development Process FacilitationProcess Facilitation Strategic AdviceStrategic Advice

Trainings, seminars,

workshops

Trainings, seminars,

workshops

Industrial Governance Mechanisms

(Inter-ministerial coordination, PPP,

institutional strengthening)

Industrial Governance Mechanisms

(Inter-ministerial coordination, PPP,

institutional strengthening)

Information & Knowledge

(statistics and research)

Information & Knowledge

(statistics and research)

Industrial Policy Making dialogueIndustrial Policy Making dialogue

The approach in one slide

Emerging Issues• Development cooperation lagging behind

– IFIs and most traditional donors still very resistant to support IP (despite Paris Agenda and Busan commitments) …

– … both at the country and at the sub-regional level

• Regional industrial policies are a rapidly emerging trend– Especially in Africa, as a platform to build upon a shared

consensus (politically a low-hanging fruit)

– Many unresolved issues related to subsidiarity, coordination of measures and distribution of costs/benefits

– Significant capacity gaps at country level in policy design, implementation and monitoring could be best addressed at the regional level

Thank you

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