UN Industrial Development Organization

UN body offers 1.7 mln dlrs to Colombia's anti-pollution project

Thursday, October 25, 2007

BOGOTA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The UN Industrial Development Organization (Unido) has assigned 1.7 million U.S. dollars to a program for removing mercury pollution from gold mines in northeastern Colombia, the foreign ministry said Wednesday in a statement.

The program, the Global Mercury Project, was reviewed by President Alvaro Uribe and Unido's Director General Kandeh K. Yumkella during a tour of a low-technology mine in the northeastern province of Antioquia. Colombia will invest 600,000 dollars in the project.

Yumkella was on a two-day visit to Colombia starting from Tuesday, during which he signed a memorandum of understanding with Guillermo Plata, the nation's minister of commerce, industry and tourism, to support small and medium-sized companies.

The Colombian government said the visit represents a Unido endorsement of Colombia's small and medium-sized industry program, which will soon begin its second phase.

Unido, which promotes industrial development in developing nations, began working in Colombia in 1991 by opening a regional office in the country.