NEW YORK— Suriname signed the Program for Country Partnership (PCP) 2026-2031 with UNIDO on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. The PCP is a 5-year roadmap to increasingly process Surinamese raw materials and agricultural products locally — via light industry — into semi-finished and finished products, instead of exporting them unprocessed. This way, more value remains in your own country.
The agreement was signed on Monday by UNIDO Director General Gerd Müller and Minister Andrew Baasaron of Economic Affairs, Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation (EZOTI). Processing more and more raw materials and agricultural products locally should translate into more and better jobs, with special attention to young people and women, and more support for local SMEs. At the same time, the preservation of the Surinamese rainforest and its status as a high-forest cover-low-deforestation country remains central.
