UNIDO was established in 1966 and became a specialized agency of the United Nations in 1985. As a specialized agency, UNIDO has its own constitution, its own member states, its own policymaking organs, its own executive head (Director-General Dr. Kandeh K. Yumkella) and its own regular budget. Moreover, UNIDO disposes of voluntary contributions to finance developmental activities.

SPX-UNIDO's Industrial Subcontracting & Partnership eXchange Programme
Subcontracting and Partnership Exchanges (SPX) are technical information, promotion and match making centers for industrial subcontracting and partnership between main-contractors, suppliers and subcontractors, aiming at the optimal utilization (the most complete, rational and productive) of the manufacturing capacities of the affiliated industries. SPXs should be organized as non-profit industrial associations run be qualified entrepreneurs. In effect, the Exchanges appear not only as the meeting points and the instruments of regulation between the supply and the demand of industrial subcontracting orders, but also as instruments of assistance to both partners, and particularly the small and medium supplier or subcontracting enterprises.

Institutional Mechanisms

UNIDO provides technical assistance to developing countries for establishing and operating "Subcontracting and Partnership Exchanges" (SPXs). To this end, it assists in setting up a roster of subcontractors, suppliers and main-contractors. The SPXs act as centres for technical information, match-making and promotion as well as clearing-houses for industrial subcontracting and partnership enquiries and opportunities. They have a number of core functions, including the following:

• The collection, analysis, storage and organization for rapid retrieval of information and data on the existing production capacities and capabilities of industries, especially SMEs. 
     • The identification of subcontracting, supply and partnership inquiries or offers from large foreign or domestic buyers and main-contractors and their dissemination to potential subcontractors/suppliers/partners. 
     • Assistance to potential subcontractors/suppliers/partners in organizing production clusters and associations and in negotiating agreements with main-contractors, which could be their own Governments.

UNIDO recommends legal statutes (See Tools) and standard terms of reference for the establishment of autonomous Subcontracting and Partnership Exchanges under Boards of Directors (or Management Boards).

In addition, as recommended by two UNIDO Expert Group Meetings on "Industrial Subcontracting and Partnership Exchanges and Policies", (in May 1991 and in June 1994), the new generation of SPXs act as centres of multidisciplinary assistance and information for subcontractors and suppliers, in fields such as:

• Technical support (product design, technology, equipment, innovation); 
     • Quality management, standards and certification; 
     • Marketing strategies and analysis (including participation in international fairs and business promotion forums); 
     • Access to credit, financial facilities and incentives; 
     • Management (rehabilitation, financial management, stock control); 
     • Legal advise (legal contracts, codes of conduct, reconciliation or settlement of disputes); 
     • Human resource management (training).

This assistance and information is provided either directly by the SPX in the form of surveys, advice, training, awareness seminars and industrial fairs, or by referring the enterprises to the relevant specialized institutes.