united nations signs cooperation agreement with international

chamber of commerce world federation

 

The United Nations Secretariat today signed a key cooperation agreement with the International Chamber of Commerce’s World Chambers Federation at the sixth World Chambers Congress, which began this morning in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and ends on 6 June.

The agreement formalizes a voluntary and global partnership in which the Federation will actively provide support through its own resources, networks, systems and tools, as well as encourage vendors seeking business opportunities to use the United Nations procurement system.

The organization, acting through its Office of Central Support Services (OCSS) Procurement Division, finalized the agreement with the Federation.  Paul Buades, Director of the United Nations Procurement Division, signed on behalf of the Organization with Rona Yircali, Chairperson of the Federation.

Under the agreement, the parties will identify new business opportunities for members of the Federation; support the outreach needs and efforts of the United Nations to increase its vendor database; educate Federation staff and vendors about doing business with the world body’s procurement system; and register more vendors from countries categorized as developing or as economies in transition in the United Nations Global Market Place (UNGM).

The Procurement Division, acting as the United Nations Secretariat Procurement Focal Point, together with funds, programmes and specialized agencies, will assist the Federation by providing information, education tools, and up-to-date information on United Nations procurement operations.

The signing took place today following a presentation on United Nations procurement opportunities.  During that session, participants at the Congress were briefed on providing their respective chambers of commerce with direct links into United Nations Secretariat Procurement and on developing new business opportunities for Federation member companies.  The presentation was moderated by Mr. Buades. 

Panellists representing the United Nations system today included:  Lisa Fraser, Member States Liaison Officer for Business Seminars, United Nations Procurement Division;  Giorgio Fraternale, Deputy Director and Head, Procurement and Contracts Division, World Intellectual Property Organization; Kiyohiro Mitsui, Chief, Integrated Support Service, United Nations Procurement Division;Niels Ramm, Procurement Officer and United Nations Global Marketplace Project Manager, United Nations Office for Project Services; Susan Struck, High Level Committee of Management’s (HLCM) Procurement Network Secretariat, United Nations Development Programme Procurement  Support Office.

For previous details see Press Release ORG/1514 of 28 May 2009 or http://www.un.org/depts/ptd/.

For more information, please contact:  United Nations Procurement Division, 304 East 45^th Street (FF Building), 2^nd Floor, New York, NY, 10017; Tel.:  +1 212 963-6249; E-mail:  pd@un.org; http://www.un.org/depts/ptd/; or ICC WCF, 38 Cours Albert 1er, 75008, Paris, France; Tel.: + 33 1 49 53 29 44; E-mail:  Anthony.parkes@iccwbo.org; http://www.iccwbo.org/wcf.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record