Declaration on the Millennium Development Goals by the private sector
31 July 2007
Background
In 2000, at the Millennium Summit, 189 countries declared that they would
spare no effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We have made
some progress, in many countries on every continent, when the right policies and
right reforms have been combined with sufficient resources. But seven years
later and half way to 2015 we are not on track to meet our historic commitments.
The Eighth Millennium pledge was that we would “develop a global
partnership for development”. The MDG Call to Action, which was launched by
Gordon Brown and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon seeks to galvanise the entire
international community to face up to this development emergency.
The purpose of the MDG Call to Action is to:
- Build an international consensus about what needs to be done to meet the
2015 targets.
- Engage a broader set of players – not just governments in the north and
south but also the private sector, trades unions, faith groups, civil society,
cities.
- Set milestones (steps towards the MDGs) so that progress can be measured
and every partner can be held accountable for their contribution.
- Build a shared sense of collective progress, to foster optimism and
momentum, inspire action and counter fatigue.
As part of this Call to Action, we are asking companies to implement
concrete initiatives that apply their core business, skills, and expertise in a
transformative and scalable manner that will enhance growth and wealth creation
to help meet the MDGs. This is not about encouraging more philanthropy or
corporate social responsibility, but producing business ideas that are both
commercially viable and help to achieve the MDGs.
Initiatives might achieve one or more of the following:
- Generate significant new employment opportunities in developing countries;
- Improve the quality of supply chains, helping local businesses to diversify, and/or become
internationally competitive;
- Include innovations and/or technologies which
make it easier for individuals and businesses to do business.
A meeting in May 2008 in London will showcase the concrete initiatives
taken by these lead companies and provide an opportunity for companies which
have not yet signed up to the Declaration to do so.
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Joint Declaration
At the Millennium Summit in 2000 the world declared it would spare no effort
to achieve the seven key Millennium Development Goals.
There has been some progress. But seven years later and half way to 2015 the
world is not on track to meet that commitment.
We have just seven years to go – a few short years to make the difference for
millions of people on our planet between grinding poverty and the opportunity to
learn, be healthy and make enough to support their families.
We need urgent action to meet this development emergency if the world is to
get back on track.
With will we know we can make the difference. We can build on the progress
that has been made on every continent when the right policies have been combined
with sufficient resources.
But we need to go further. We need to mobilise all our efforts. The eighth
Millennium pledge was that we would “develop a global partnership for
development”. The time has come for us all to live up to that promise. We
believe we now need an international effort that harnesses the power of
everyone: the private sector, individuals, consumers, faith groups, cities,
civil society organisations, as well as governments, north and south, to work
together to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
We believe now is the time to act not talk. We know what needs to be done and
the urgency of doing it.
So today, as leaders from the private sector, we declare our commitment to
meet this development emergency. We commit to action and because the scale of
the challenge means no one acting alone can achieve the difference we need, we
call on all parties including the private sector, governments, civil society and
faith groups to play their part. It is only by acting together in a genuine
partnership that we can succeed.
We urge the convening of a UN meeting in 2008 that brings together heads of
government with leaders from the private sector, civil society and faith to
review progress made in the preceding 12 months and accelerate action.
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Signatories
This declaration has been endorsed by:
- Bernard Arnault, Chairman LVMH
- Riley Bechtel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Bechtel Corporation
- Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Goldman Sachs
Group Inc.
- Cynthia Carroll, Chief Executive of Anglo American plc
- Patrick Cescau, Group Chief Executive, Unilever PLC/Unilever N.V.
- John T. Chambers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Cisco Systems
- Ian E. L. Davis, Worldwide Managing Director, McKinsey & Company, Inc.
- Sir Niall Fitzgerald, Chairman, Reuters Group plc
- Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft
- Jeff Immelt, Chief Executive Officer, GE
- Graham Mackay, Chief Executive, SABMiller
- Indra Nooyi, President and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo Inc.
- Nicky Oppenheimer, Chairman, De Beers Group
- Chuck Prince, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Citigroup
- Arun Sarin, Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone
- Dr. Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive
Committee, Google Inc.
- H. Lee Scott Jr, President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart Stores,
Inc.
- Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, FedEx
- Ratan Tata, Chairman of The Tata Group
- Gunter Thielen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bertelsmann AG
- Paul Walsh, Chief Executive Officer, Diageo
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