Press Conference on United Nations Association 2010 Humanitarian Awards

 

At a Headquarters press conference today before accepting awards from the United Nations Association of New York (UNA-NY) for their humanitarian work, Amir Dossal, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Partnerships, and Feike Sijbesma, Chief Executive Officer of Netherlands-based Royal DSM, stressed the need for broader public-private partnerships to confront the world’s challenges.

“Often we’ve said at the United Nations that if we are to address some of these challenges we have to engage the non-state actors, particularly the private sector.  This engagement can only come if there’s leadership at the top,” Mr. Dossal said, adding he was proud to have worked with Mr. Sijbesma.

The pair was honoured with United Nations Association 2010 Humanitarian Awards for its use of technology from Royal DSM, the world’s largest manufacturer of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals, to fortify foods for impoverished people in developing countries and emergency situations.

Mr. Sijbesma, whose company specializes in life and material sciences, said he had been intrigued by discussion several years ago at the World Economic Forum about the “hidden hunger” of micronutrient shortage among some 1 billion people, which could lead to conditions such as anaemia, fatigue and blindness.

“We said since we are the largest in the world, we will provide the [United Nations] all of our patents, all our technologies, our technical assistance for free to help those people who cannot take care of themselves,” Mr. Sijbesma told correspondents, adding that:  “I’m very pleased that all of our 24,000 employees can contribute and that we can and have taken responsibility in the private sector together with the United Nations.”

The company’s technology had fortified foods such as cookies, date bars and rice in extensive work with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

“The best part about this is that we’re not the only ones doing partnerships.  Like Royal DSM, there are a number of other private sector leaders who get it and feel that it is not only about making profits but really looking at sustainability in its truest form, and that the poor are also a market at the end of the day,” Mr. Dossal said.

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For information media • not an official record