How can SMEs play a more active role together with United Nations in the global mechanisms of development cooperation?

From 15th to 17th May 2024, UNIDO ITPO Italy joined “Codeway Expo - Business for Cooperation” – the international exhibition by Fiera Roma focusing on the role of the private sector in the new global scenarios of development cooperation – by participating with its own ad hoc stand at the fair, raising awareness about UNIDO's mandate and activities, and by organizing the following initiatives:

• “The New Era of Industrial Policy: Insights from UNIDO’s Industrial Development Report 2024”. This UNIDO conference, held in the plenary session area, saw the participation as panelists of experts from the United Nations, Italian and European institutions, academia and beyond;
  
  
• High-level institutional delegation from Iraq, in the framework of the UNIDO project “Investment Promotion for Iraq – Phase II” financed by the Italian Government through the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). The delegates - representatives of UNIDO in Iraq as well as of the Iraqi Federal Ministry of Industry (MIM), Ministry of Trade and Industry of Kurdistan Regional Government (MOTI), and the Iraqi Federation of Industry (IFI) - held presentations during UNIDO ITPO Italy's event “Business & Cooperation in Iraq” at Codeway, and within the fair also took part in multiple B2B meetings regarding different sectors of interest, from agriculture and environmental sustainability to cybersecurity and innovation;
  
  
• “Twinning partnership for empowering Lebanese SMEs in the winery industry”, the event focusing on the project supporting winemakers in Lebanon funded by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and implemented by UNIDO ITPO Italy;
  
  
• Art exhibition by artist Mario Arlati featuring “UNcompleted flag”, result of the craft laboratory for the youths of the Social Enterprise Il Carro, organized in collaboration with art gallery Monza Arte Contemporanea (M.Ar.Co.) and embraced by UNIDO ITPO Italy. The exhibition was inaugurated on the opening day of Codeway and remained freely accessible for the entire duration of the expo.