At New York Event, Secretary-General Praises Korea Network as Important

 

Vehicle for Spreading Global Corporate Principles

 

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at “Korea Night” in New York, 23 June:

I am delighted to welcome you to New York.

And I am very pleased to see so many Korean businesspeople here for this event.

This turnout represents a big change from just a few years ago.  When I became Secretary-General, there was no Global Compact Local Network in Korea.

Now, the Korean Network is one of the strongest in the world.  It has become an important vehicle for spreading the principles of the Global Compact not only in Korea, but throughout the North-East Asian region.

So I thank all those responsible for doing so much so fast.  It makes me very encouraged for what we can achieve in the period ahead.

Tomorrow, you will be joined by well over 1,000 participants from close to 100 countries.  We will discuss the next phase of this initiative, the next steps in our drive for sustainability, for sustainable economic growth and sustainable development.

This is an opportunity to set the tone for the next decade — and to set our sights on two ambitious goals.

First, we hope to have 20,000 participants by 2020.

More and more businesses accept the importance of responsible practices for their own long-term success and for the benefit of societies and markets everywhere.  The Compact wants to build on this momentum.

We are already the world’s largest corporate responsibility platform.  But we want to reach critical mass.

Our second goal is to deepen the participants’ engagement in the Compact.

Already, companies have done a lot to implement the 10 universal principles that underpin the Compact.  But we want them to go further still.

We want them to embrace the new Blueprint for Corporate Sustainability Leadership.

And we want them to support one of the main planks of the Blueprint:  helping the United Nations achieve its broad objectives, above all the Millennium Development Goals.

There has been remarkable progress toward the Goals.  Where we are falling short, it is because we have failed to keep our promises to the poor and vulnerable, and because we have yet to scale up what we know works.

Business is well placed to help us accelerate progress.

I hope business will make very strong commitments to the MDGs here at this Summit and then again at the MDG Summit in September.

I will count on you to make these smart, targeted investments in people.

In turn, you can count on my commitment to further strengthen the UN-business relationship.

I am sure that your commitment will inspire others in the Korean business community to join in our effort to achieve a more sustainable future for all.

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For information media • not an official record