World Summit on Sustainable Development Department of Public Information - News and Media Services Division - New York
	Johannesburg, South Africa 26 August-4 September 2002	28 August 2002

PRESS CONFERENCE BY WORLD BUSINESS COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT   Within the broad business community some companies were engaged in the issues of the Summit and some were not and unless a strong case was presented for sustainable development, and unless a line manager of a company was presented with a good business rationale for investing, progress would be slow, the President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, comprised of 160 members, told correspondents today at a Summit press conference. Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman of Business Action for Sustainable Development, opened the discussion, which he said was intended to bring correspondents up to date on views expressed by business representatives during ongoing discussions and to announce an agreement between business and a non-governmental organization on a major issue of the Summit. Mr. Moody-Stuart was joined by: Richard Holme, Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce and Deputy Chairman, Business Action for Sustainable Development; Bjorn Stigson, President, World Business Council for Sustainable Development; and Vanida Govinda, General Manager, Environmental Affairs of Eskom (South African energy corporation); and Gerard Payen, Senior-Executive Vice-President, Suez, a water sewage company in France. Mr. Holme said that for the developing countries here at the Summit, the overwhelming issue was how to get the right sort of investment into their countries, in order to promote their own sustainable growth. Business had a great responsibility to assist in that task. Four-fifths of the investment in the developing world came from the private sector and only one-fifth took the form of aid. Business Action for Sustainable Development had proposed a four-point plan to mobilize investment, derived in part from work done at the Financing for Development Conference held in March in Monterrey, Mexico. The following was needed to have significant investment in developing countries: better synergy between the aid and private sectors in investing; the right conditions for investment, including good governance, which was not a matter of northern courts laying down their standards on the South, but about a level playing field; the absence of corruption and a reliable atmosphere in which to do business; partnerships between non-governmental organizations, unions, local and national governments and so forth; and improved access for the products of the developing world to the rich developed world. Free trade cut both ways, he added. On water, Mr. Payen said that was an area where partnerships, and more specifically, long-term partnership contracts, could provide significant results and mobilize huge private financial resources. He cited two examples of success, including in Argentina and in Jordan, where construction of a wastewater treatment plant was under way, which was financed partly by public money and also by private finance. Adding that he had seen very extensive engagement of business here at the Summit, Mr. Stigson announced an event for tonight sponsored by the World Business Council and Greenpeace. Those two rather high-profile organizations often differed on the issues and had not been known to cooperate. But, tonight they would issue a joint call to action for governments to create an international framework to deal with the risk of climate change, both in the interest of business and of humanity. That was a very innovative step in terms of cooperation between non-governmental organizations and business. Responding to a question about technology transfers and whether that was simply a new form of colonization by the countries in the North and a new form of dependency for developing countries, Ms. Vanida said the absolute basis for a technology transfer must be that it was applicable and could be adapted to a country's specific conditions. Transfers of technology had occurred for nuclear reactors, as well as for wind farms, and been successfully adapted to the developing country. Important components of such transfers were their affordability, including for maintenance and upkeep, and available expertise in the developing country. Asked about the steady decline of business investment in Africa in the past 10 years and what the business community envisaged to correct that, Mr. Holme agreed that there had been a "tragic under investment" in the countries of Africa. The formation of New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) had been highly significant. At a recent meeting of the Group of 8 developed countries (G-8), considerable financial commitment had been expressed for NEPAD. Mr. Moody-Stuart added that many companies with profitable operations in Africa were actually giving them up because of the risk of something going wrong. For business, the balance of risk and performance was just not worth it. That was a tragedy and he absolutely opposed it, but it was realistic. That was why partnerships were needed. Asked if NEPAD's quest for an investment of $60 billion over the next 10 years was realistic, Mr. Moody-Stuart said the NEPAD initiative was an effort to improve checks and balances within and between nations, which would strengthen local governance. Then investment would flow. As that initiative progressed, it would begin to attract businesses. It was not possible to assess how realistic that goal was now, until the process had moved forward.   Press Conferences Summit News