September 2002
At a high-level roundtable chaired by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, the Global Compact officially launched a multi-stakeholder initiative to pursue sustainable business development in the world's Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The meeting, which took place on 2 September, was attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac and other heads of state and government; ministers; UN officials; representatives from labour and non-governmental organizations; and the chief executive officers of such companies as Hewlett-Packard and Shell International. "Growing sustainable business in the world's Least Developed Countries is arguably the most promising pathway in overcoming the poverty trap", said Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "By working together to mobilize sustainable investment in the LDCs, government, business and civil society give hope and opportunity to the world's poorest".
The roundtable was organized by the UN Global Compact, in cooperation with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and other UN agencies. At the roundtable, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman of Business Action for Sustainable Development, presented a plan that would commit partners to identifying, over the next year, business opportunities in specific Least Developed Countries that would be sustainable and designed in ways to help grow local small and medium-sized businesses. The initiative is illustrative of the development dimension of the Global Compact. During the next 12 months, companies will identify specific Least Developed Countries that they will target for business development in partnership with other stakeholders and in alignment with the nine principles of the Global Compact. Participants in the initiative agreed to publicly share progress made and their respective contributions to the process over the next year. The initiative is part of the Global Compact's 2002 Policy Dialogue on "Business and Sustainable Development".
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