25 September 2008
International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander and Kemal Dervis, Head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), yesterday (24 September) launched the Global Business Call to Action Partnership at a lunch hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The Business Call to Action aims to get private sector companies involved in spreading growth and prosperity throughout the developing world.
This new partnership - between the UK and UNDP, UN Global Compact, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and the International Business Leaders Forum - will create business opportunities in poor countries, helping to boost their economic development.
The lunch - which took place during a week of action on the Millennium Development Goals at the UN in New York - also saw the announcement of a brace of new initiatives from Norwegian fertiliser company Yara, telecommunications firm Ericsson and financial infrastructure supplier Map International.
These will attempt to tackle food shortages in Mozambique and Tanzania, improve access to financial services for more than 2 million people living in rural Uganda and develop mobile applications that focus on health solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa.
All three companies are an integral part of a movement that seeks to enable the poor to access speedy flows of information, money and business expertise, as well as creating new employment opportunities.
Douglas Alexander said:
"I am pleased that companies like Yara, Map International and Ericsson have joined the Business Call to Action. Business has a vital role to play in reducing poverty and the involvement of these companies in the Business Call to Action will help accelerate progress towards increasing growth in developing countries and meeting the MDGs by 2015.
"This is a crucial year for businesses, governments, non-governmental organizations, faith groups and citizens. The time has come to step up activity to meet the MDGs and ensure a safer, developed and more prosperous world."
Read Douglas Alexander's New York speech on the private sector and development
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, ten private companies were recognized for their work in improving the lives of the world’s most disadvantaged people. The World Business and Development Awards showcased creative initiatives by corporations, large and small, who apply their core business expertise to world-wide efforts to achieve the MDGs.
Diageo and Safaricom (for Vodafone), who announced their initiatives at the Business Call to Action London event in May, were among the winners.
Bookmark with:
What are Bookmarks?