Global Policy Forum

Can the Global Compact and its principles be used as a guide for future human capital development in China?

That was the topic of the 2002 Human Capital Forum in Beijing on 15-17 December, organized by the Chinese Academy of Social Science and the Global Compact Office and bringing together high-ranking government officials, trade unions, scholars and human resources specialists from China and abroad, in addition to leaders of large Chinese companies as well as representatives of many multinational enterprises operating in China. UN Under Secretary-General Maurice Strong, who is a special advisor to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and Global Compact officials presented a letter from the Secretary-General in which he congratulated the forum and China's efforts to meet the challenges of globalization through the adoption of the Global Compact and its principles.

In his keynote speech, Mr. Strong noted that the future development of many nations, including China with more than one billion people, hinges on the development of their human capital. He predicted that China would play a more critical role in the world arena with the rapid development of its human capital. Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Mr. Jiang Zhenghua, stressed that human capital and the conditions under which work took place are crucial factors in China's development. The President of the Chinese Academy of Social Science and Vice Director of the China Reform and Development Forum said that to integrate China into the world economy, high international standards had to be met. The three-day event, which drew more than 300 participants, centered on the question of how the vast human capital of China can be educated, trained and employed to meet the challenges of globalization in the upcoming years and decades. What should China's strategy for human capital development be? How can the uneven development between the east coast and the poorer west, as well as the issue of migrant workers, be tackled best? And how can the principles of the Global Compact be a guide for a future human capital development strategy? This question was addressed in speeches by Anton Stadler and Fred Dubee from the Global Compact Office.

Several speakers emphasized that a holistic approach to development was not new to Chinese culture; economic development could only be made sustainable if considering social harmony and environmental protection. The forum received wide press coverage by Chinese television, newspapers and radio.

The Chinese Academy of Social Science, the umbrella organization of the country's academic network, will also establish a China Global Compact Website with a strong emphasis on learning and dialogue between business, academia, trade unions, NGOs, and the government. The website will be jointly administered by the various stakeholders of a Global Compact Network China which is scheduled to become operational in 2003.