To reduce poverty develop manufacturing activity: UNIDO report

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New Delhi, Feb. 23 (ANI): A United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) report released on Monday focuses on the need to develop manufacturing activity that can help reduce poverty in developing countries.

"This year the theme is how can manufacturing development offer opportunities to low income countries and slow moving middle income countries, what is referred to in the book as 'bottom billion'," said Philippe Scholtes, Representative and Head, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, South Asia.

The Industrial Development Report 2009 released on Monday suggested that struggling countries must manufacture more and be given better access to global markets to expand their economies.

"Manufacturing activity has proven to have external factors and multiply our efforts on raising labour productivity and therefore so on in reducing poverty in developing countries," added Scholtes.

Further, the report observed that the world's poorest nations need help from richer countries to exploit manufacturing rather than natural resources or agriculture if these countries are to escape from poverty.

However, the discovery of oil or gold can suck labour out of manufacturing, raise the price of goods and push the economy away from exports and into domestic sectors, it warned.

Among other facts compiled by the UNIDO are that African countries should learn from Asian states such as Malaysia that developed their economies through wealth creation, rather than focusing solely on cutting poverty.

While the report has favoured manufacturing over natural resources, it has warned that poor nations must think carefully about what products they make for export.

Rather than selling finished items like shirts, they should make components such as buttons and thus specialise in specific, smaller items which can build expertise and supplement market share.

UNIDO has cited the example of Qiaotou, a once sleepy rice-growing village in eastern China that now produces nearly two-thirds of the world's buttons. (ANI)

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