The SIAP/ UNIDO joint workshop was held for Nigerian government officials at SIAP premises, Chiba, Japan, from 6 to 10 April 2009. Fifteen participants from Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Nigeria and other organizations of Nigeria attended the workshop. Institute of Developing Economies (IDE-JETRO) and Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as well as a UNIDO consultant and SIAP faculty members contributed to the workshop. Chairman of the House Committee of Industry, Nigeria House of Representatives, and other seven members of Nigeria House of Representative joined the Opening Ceremony to cerebrate this Asia-African cooperation.

UNIDO Nigeria, the West African regional center of UNIDO, organized the group visit of Nigerian participants to SIAP. SIAP and Mr. Tetsuo Yamada, UNIDO consultant for the workshop and ex-Chief Statistician of UNIDO, developed the week-long program. The purpose of this workshop was to build an analytical capacity of participants for the policy-oriented empirical country studies to support the consistent formulation of sustainable industrial development. It should be an important factor for developing countries to build up self-sustained economy. Good quality statistical data play a central role there. Mr. Yamada clearly set out an analytical framework in a macro economic context and a set of related indicators, both of which were critical for industrial policy studies.

It was also stressed in the workshop that social and environmental factors played a vital role for a countries’ sustainable development so the MDG indicators was introduced as another framework of policy analysis.

Data analysis for effective industrial policy making was a main theme of the workshop. Visit to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry gave the participants an insight into how the industrial statistics were utilized in Japan. Japanese industrial policy has been famous for its effectiveness, particularly during the time of its high economic growth. Major industrial statistics produced by the Ministry including Censuses of Manufacture and Commerce were introduced and their uses for analysis and policy making were presented as well. Participants realized that, for the effectiveness of industrial policy, detailed data on production and distribution, accurate picture of the industrial structure and their interrelationship have played a vital role for the policy planning.

IDE-JETRO is a prominent institute in area and/or country specific economic studies for developing countries. Mr. Katsuya Mochizuki, its Nigerian expert, joined the workshop and exchanged views on policy issues related to Nigerian oil industry.

Participants had actively participated in the workshop and their lively discussions and questions had consumed beyond originally allocated time for that. Most of their interests were policy oriented and relevance of the knowledge and experience they learned during their stay in Japan in the context of Nigerian policy and economy was their fundamental concern.

As for the international cooperation, Ms Davaasuren, the Director of SIAP, emphasized, in her closing remarks, the successful collaboration of SIAP (ESCAP) and UNIDO Nigeria and referred to the importance of a South - South cooperation: cooperation between developing economies of different regions. She told the participants that the knowledge sharing among different regions was the first step for this undertaking. She also hoped the participants to deliver their acquired knowledge and skills to their partners in Nigerian government.