Page 233 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

Bringing the Concept to Life

to the economies in transition has been on the rise. Most of the UNDP projects
in those countries focus on retraining personnel and providing consulting ser-
vices in the field of economics, as well as in the development of legislative
systems and democratic institutions. It is important to note that UN renders
assistance, unlike some other international agencies, without any precondi-
tions.

12. In 1994-95, about 130 projects were implemented in Russia under the
auspices of the UNDP. Another 30 projects covered, apart from Russia, its
neighbours. Recently, a significant part of the projects has been implemented at
the level of regions and individual cities. For example, in the Tyumen and
Vologda regions, Novosibirsk, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and a number of other
cities, UNDP specialists assisted in the restructuring of transport, privatization,
environmental protection, reorganization of local administration and finance.

13. In particular, in the field of finance, UN specialists provided advisory
services to government agencies in Belarus, Georgia, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan dealing with the development of budgets of State-owned
enterprises. In Belarus, they organized retraining courses for employees of
foreign trade organizations. In Russia, they assisted in the preparation of the
budget of St. Petersburg and launched a program of assistance in the field of
restructuring the financial statements of enterprises and the methodology of
statistics. UN experts also provide assistance to the Ministry of Foreign
Economic Relations of Russia regarding the country’s accession to the WTO.

14. Technical assistance is also available through individual UN special
agencies, albeit on a smaller scale. For example, WIPO organizes training
courses and scholarships in the domain of intellectual property law. The ILO
provides practical assistance to Russian labour exchanges and training centers.
In particular, ILO has recently been training a team of domestic specialists on
the implementation of modular skills training systems with a focus on small
enterprises.

15. Today, UN agencies are increasingly implementing their projects in
cooperation with private business. In general, the policy of the Organization is
aimed today at more actively involving business in its activities, whether in the
form of providing expert assessments, participating in the program financing or
in their joint implementation. I think that Russian and Swiss business also have
good opportunities to participate in this cooperation.

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