BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
There is a need in Kazakhstan to ensure the environmental and social sustainability of extractive industries, metallurgy and mining, the UNIDO official told Trend.
The official noted that UNIDO’s mandate is embedded in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 and the Organization is a custodian agency for its indicators such as manufacturing value added (MVA) as a proportion of GDP and per capita, CO2 emissions per value added, as well as proportion of medium and high-tech industry value added in total value added, among others.
“There is evidence from across the globe that industrialization is an effective poverty reduction strategy and UNIDO considers inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) vital for income generation and the improvement of living standards. Sustainable industrial practices and clean technologies, including responsible agribusiness and food production, also contribute to the overall well-being and health conditions of the population,” the official said.
The UNIDO official said Kazakhstan, as an emerging industrial economy, ranks 68th out of 152 countries assessed in UNIDO’s Competitive Industrial Performance Index (CIP) in 2020.
“The manufacturing sector in the country heavily relies on extractive industries and is mostly resource-based, thus has a considerable effect on the environment and the population. In line with recent governmental efforts to increase the share of manufactured goods and export-oriented production, there is a need to ensure the environmental and social sustainability of extractive industries, metallurgy and mining,” the UNIDO official said.
They added that currently industry employs a little above 20 percent of the working population (World Bank Databank, 2019).
“A transition towards a resource-efficient economy entails the development of green skills among the population and the creation of new jobs, as well as the integration of advanced technologies. All this will increase the overall economic competitiveness of the country,” the official said.
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