The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development (MoIED) recently entered into a strategic partnership to enhance the ministry's institutional and technical capacity by setting up an expert support unit to accelerate industrial development, strengthen entrepreneurship and competitiveness of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and advance evidence-based policymaking.

The partnership will support the design and operationalisation of an embedded expert support unit within the ministry, providing high-quality technical, analytical and coordination expertise across priority areas.

The areas include SME, skills and industrial zone development; trade and policy; digital transformation; data analytics; development; and international relations.

The unit will provide agile and targeted expertise to strengthen programme implementation, policy innovation, stakeholder engagement and strategic coordination, a release from UNDP said.

The initiative will facilitate the rapid deployment of technical specialists while strengthening systems for project management, monitoring, reporting and performance measurement.

The partnership also seeks to mobilise support from development partners and private sector stakeholders to ensure sustainable and impactful results.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)