Secretary-General, in Message to Beijing Meeting of Corporate Leaders,

Stresses Importance of Social Responsibility in Business World

 

This is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message today, 5 November, to the fourth International Round Table of Chief Executive Officers of Chinese and Foreign Multinational Corporations in Beijing:

I am pleased to send greetings to all the participants in the fourth International CEO Round Table of Chinese and Foreign Multinational Corporations.

Your focus on investment, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development is timely and important.  Private investment plays an important role in the spread of environmentally friendly practices and in promoting energy efficiency, low-carbon development and green technology.  Private sector investment is also a primary driver of innovation and job creation and, therefore, crucial to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

We have made important progress in increasing school enrolment, controlling disease and expanding access to clean water.  At the same time, it is clear that improvements in the lives of the poor have been unacceptably slow, and some hard-won gains are being eroded by the impacts of climate change, by volatility in food prices, and by the economic and financial crisis.

At last month’s MDGs Summit at the United Nations, world leaders pledged to accelerate their efforts.  Government leadership will be crucial, but we will also continue to look to the private sector — including Chinese companies — for support.

The strengthening of corporate social responsibility is also of central importance.  Corporate responsibility is going mainstream.  More and more business leaders accept that principles and profits go hand in hand.  Yet the vast majority of companies operating in the world today have yet to commit to the tenets of corporate sustainability, and high-profile corporate crises have eroded public trust.  In recent years, many Chinese and foreign corporations have incorporated the tenets of business responsibility into their core strategies and operations, and many leading Chinese companies have joined the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative.  This is encouraging, and I hope more Chinese companies will embrace the Compact’s ideas and principles.

From Wall Street to Main Street, from boardroom tables to kitchen tables, from national capitals to capital markets, people look for sustainable growth and sustainable development.  Let us recognize that investments in the MDGs are investments in sustainable economic growth.  And let us remember that business will flourish only if people do.  With your engagement and your embrace of the Compact’s universal principles, we can move toward a more stable and prosperous world for all.  Please accept my best wishes for a productive meeting.

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For information media • not an official record