UNIDO and the Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations in Vienna co-organized the webinar titled “UNIDO-Japan Cooperation: Mitigating the Impacts of COVID-19 through Technology Transfer from Japan” on 24 March 2022, which was attended mainly online by 225 global participants. Since 2020, UNIDO has been implementing a COVID-19 countermeasure project promoting technology transfer to Asia and Africa in cooperation with Japanese companies, funded by the Government of Japan. In this event, Japanese companies and local partners involved in the project introduced the activities and achievements in selected countries.

The event was opened by Mr. Bernardo Calzadilla-Sarmiento, Managing Director, Directorate of Digitalization Technology and Agri-business (DTA), and Director, Department of Digitalization, Technology and Innovation (DTI) of UNIDO.

In his opening remarks via video message, UNIDO Director General Mr. Gerd Müller said “The poorest people have been most affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We thank the Government of Japan and Japanese companies for implementing this project to promote innovation and investment in 10 countries in Africa and Asia”. He continued by expressing his hope for further expansion of technology and know-how transfer in the future, “We have the knowledge to tackle the global challenges. What we need is to deliver it to developing countries”.

H.E. Mr. Takeshi Hikihara, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Japan to the International Organizations based in Vienna, stated “The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the new coronavirus is a global humanitarian crisis. This project contributed to strengthening the capacity of developing countries even under such difficult situation with lots of restrictions”. He also mentioned TICAD 8, which will be held in August this year, and emphasized the significance and the need to enhance intergovernmental and diverse institutional involvement in international cooperation.

Following the opening remarks, Mr. Yuko Yasunaga, Head, UNIDO ITPO Tokyo, explained about the ‘Sustainable Technology Promotion Platform (STePP)’ and the overview of the project. One of the recipient countries for this project was Kenya and H.E. Ms. Tabu Irina, Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to Japan remarked, “We would like to thank all the stakeholders for your great support in the three technology transfer projects carried out in Kenya”. Also speaking on behalf of all recipient countries, she continued “Results-oriented bilateral and multilateral cooperation, as well as strong partnerships which are beneficial for each party, are essential to continue tackling social and economic problems.”

A panel discussion followed the opening session, where the event moderator Ms. Selma Prodanovic invited  five panelists namely Ms. Nakamura Tamaro Stephanie from Saraya Co., Ltd., Dr. Josephine Nguri, Medical Superintendent and Clinical Pharmacist from Mutuini Sub-County Hospital in Kenya, Ms. Aya Sakata from Marusyo Sangyo Co., Ltd., and Dr. Hoang Hai from the University of Danang, Vietnam, and Mr. Yuko Yasunaga to introduce their experiences and lessons learned from the project, as summarized below.

• During the project, the importance of enlightenment activities was highlighted. We would like to continue to hold workshops to raise the awareness and understanding of local people about the significance of improving the hygienic environment and the effectiveness of hand disinfection.
• Due to the various COVID-19 related restrictions, all processes, including training for engineers and operators, had to be done online. Effective use of ICT was a major factor in the success of the project.
• There are many facilities that are conscious of hygiene management but are not able to act due to the lack of budget. I hope that the Ministry of Health of each country will strengthen its support and lead to the development of the domestic markets for the sanitary industry.
• The effectiveness of technology was confirmed even one year after the start of the project. When we held a local online seminar to introduce the technology, we received huge responses. I hope the technology will be expanded to other facilities and regions in the near future.

STePP Demo Project Video:

STePP Demo Project Brochure: 

To see the detailed project outcome, please visit the STePP Demo Project Result Page.

Programme Outline

Date: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Time: 10:00 – 12:00 (CET) / 18:00 – 20:00 (JST)
Language: English, simultaneous interpretation into French and Japanese

Part 1: High-level Session (10:00 am (CET))

 

Part 2: STePP Demo Project Case Studies & Panel Session (10:40 am (CET)) 

The presentation materials from the panelists: