As part of his "quiet revolution" to renew the United Nations for the twenty-first century, Secretary-General Kofi Annan is building a stronger relationship with the business community. "Thriving markets and human security go hand in hand; without one, we will not have the other," he told corporate leaders at the World Economic Forum. In what ways are business and the UN working together? Consider these facts:

A STABILIZING FORCE IN THE WORLD ECONOMY

As national economies become more and more interdependent through information, trade, investment and financial ties, the UN is helping to fill a growing need for international cooperation and regulatory consistency to spread the benefits of globalization and to avoid chaos and backlash.

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The UN provides the "soft infrastructure" for the global economy. It sets technical standards and norms in such diverse areas as statistics, trade laws, customs procedures, intellectual property, aviation, shipping and telecommunications, thus facilitating economic activity and reducing transaction costs.

*The UN prepares the ground for investment in emerging economies, by promoting political stability and good governance, battling corruption and human rights abuses, urging sound economic policies and business-friendly legislation, and working to improve health, education and social well-being.

*The UN addresses the down side of globalization, by fighting transnational crime, the traffic in drugs, arms and people, and other "problems without passports". Much of its operational work in over 170 countries is aimed at combating poverty. These efforts reduce tensions, prevent backlash and help build future markets.

*The UN is working to solve global environmental problems, omething which free markets, left to themselves, cannot do. As an international forum for building consensus and negotiating agreements, the UN is tackling transboundary problems like climate change, ozone depletion, toxic waste, loss of forests and species, and air and water pollution. Unless these problems are addressed, markets and economies will not be sustainable in the long term -- for they are depleting the natural "capital" on which growth, and human survival, are based.

*UN values are the cornerstone of an interdependent world. Globalizing markets rely on contractual and trust-based relationships built on shared values. Since its inception, the UN's primary mission has been to advocate universal values: freedom, justice and the peaceful resolution of disputes; social progress and better standards of living; equality, tolerance and dignity. The global acceptance and spread of these values is paving the way for markets to expand and take root.

* The Global Compact. At the 1999 World Economic Forum in Davos, Secretary-General Kofi Annan challenged the business community -- individually through companies, and collectively through business associations -- to enter into a Global Compact to embrace and enact a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards and environmental practices. The International Chamber of Commerce, representing 7,000 business organizations in 137 countries, responded in a joint statement at a July 1999 meeting with the Secretary-General that the private sector had taken up his challenge to support core values. The ICC called for the UN -- rather than trade sanctions imposed by the multilateral trading system -- to play a central role in setting rules to benefit workers and the environment.

WIN-WIN SOLUTIONS

*The UN is looking to its business partners to assist with the biggest economic challenge -- and opportunity -- facing the international community: fostering worldwide sustainable growth. More specifically, the UN recognizes that the private sector must be a key player in integrating the developing world into the global economy in order to raise living standards and reduce poverty.

*A joint statement issued in 1998 by the UN Secretary-General and the International Chamber of Commerce stressed the UN's role in setting the regulatory framework for the global marketplace in order to facilitate cross-border trade and investment. Among the business leaders present were executives from Alcatel Alsthom, Anglo Gold, BAT Industries, Bata, Coca-Cola, EdperBrascan, Goldman Sachs, Henkel, Koç Holding, McDonald's Worldwide, Reemtsma, Rio Tinto, Unilever and US West.

* As agreed with the UN Secretary-General, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the ICC have begun preparing business investment guides to the 48 least developed countries to make opportunities in those regions known and boost private capital flows. As a pilot case, some 30 companies are providing expertise in promoting investment to six countries. The least developed countries currently attract less than 1 per cent of total foreign investment.

* As a place where business can make its voice heard and engage in dialogue with policy-makers and other stakeholders from all countries, the UN is helping to bring the private sector to the table to solve global problems as partners rather than adversaries.

* The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) launched in March 1999 guidelines for voluntary environmental reporting by businesses. Over 20 corporations from around the world agreed to serve as pilot tests.

* Business leaders meet each year at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development for a dialogue with environment groups, local government officials and trade unions to seek solutions on such issues as making industry more environmentally responsible, and sustainable tourism, agriculture and energy.

* Increasingly, UN agencies are cooperating with businesses on a large scale, with mutual benefits:

Promoting investment: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) assists emerging markets in attracting private capital, while finding new ways to use private finance to meet social and environmental goals. The "Money Matters: Private Finance for Development" project so far has six global corporate co-sponsors, including Fidelity Investments, Banque Nationale de Paris and State Street Bank. ** The UN Industrial Development Organization, acting as a broker between technology suppliers and developing countries, has brought over a billion dollars worth of investment and clean technologies to more than 80 countries in the last four years.

Expanding markets and boosting employment: "WorldNet", created by the International Telecommunication Union as part of the UN's plans to lay up to 50 million telephone lines in developing countries over the next decade, is helping emerging economies to build internal markets and infrastructure and to link to Internet commerce. ** The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN assists entrepreneurs who sell farm machinery, tools and supplies in several developing countries by providing training and facilitating contacts with suppliers and sources of credit. ** The UN Population Fund brokers negotiations between contraceptive manufacturers and marketing experts with government and donor agencies in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Egypt, Ghana and South Africa.

Sharing know-how: When the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said it urgently needed a computerized registration system that could generate photo ID cards for Kosovo refugees, Microsoft joined with Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and the European ID specialists Securit and Screencheck to design and donate a system. ** Emergency aid to millions of people is being delivered faster and fresher by the World Food Programme thanks to new bagging and handling technologies from the private sector. ** Information technology companies are contributing technical assistance to an automated customs system developed by UNCTAD, which has already improved trade efficiency in over 70 developing countries by several hundred million dollars. ** The UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention has set up drug-abuse prevention workshops for workers and their families in Brazil and Europe, funded largely by employers, who save on health costs.

Advocacy support: To raise awareness about poverty worldwide and generate financial support, UNDP is working with Internet giant Cisco Systems to stage "Net Aid"-- a global rock concert to be broadcast simultaneously on the Internet from stages at Giant's Stadium in New Jersey, Wembley Stadium in London and the Geneva Opera House. ** The Italian fashion giant Bennetton added style to a campaign promoting the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1998.

For information, contact the UN Public Inquiries Unit: tel. (212) 963-4475; media inquiries: (212) 963-7160

Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information -- DPI/1820/Rev.2 -- July 1999

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