Facing Realities: Getting Down to Business

05 Jun 2007
On 5-6 July - within the spectacular setting of the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland - the United Nations will convene history's largest and most significant event on the topic of leadership and corporate citizenship.
Chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and featuring an international roster of business leaders, government ministers, and heads of civil society, the Global Compact Leaders Summit will be - above all else - about building the markets of tomorrow.
The Leaders Summit - a private, invitation-only event designed for chief executives, "C-suite" officers, board members and presidents of country or regional subsidiaries - will focus exclusively on the business sustainability agenda. Under the umbrella of the United Nations, the Summit will provide a platform for leaders from all sectors to work collectively to ensure that globalization delivers the widest possible benefits to all.
Select Summit Speakers:
o                                Sir Mark Moody-Stuart · Chairman · Anglo American plc
o                                Ms. Anne Lauvergeon · Chairman of the Executive Board · Areva
o                                Captain Wei Jiafu · President and Chief Executive Officer · China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company
o                                Mr. Neville Isdell · Chairman and Chief Executive Officer · The Coca-Cola Company
o                                Mr. Jacob Maroga · Chief Executive · ESKOM
o                                Mr. Toshio Arima · President · Fuji Xerox Company Ltd
o                                Mr. Anthony Ling · Chief Investment Officer · Goldman Sachs
o                                Mr. Carl-Henric Svanberg · President and Chief Executive Officer · LM Ericsson
o                                Mr. Jose Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo · President and Chief Executive Officer · Petrobras SA
o                                Mr. Pat Davies · Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer · Sasol Ltd
o                                Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh · Chairman and Chief Executive Officer · Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization
o                                Mr. B. Muthuraman · Managing Director · Tata Steel
o                                Ms. Irene Khan · Secretary-General · Amnesty International
o                                Mr. Jeffrey D. Sachs · Director · The Earth Institute at Columbia University
o                                Ms. Mary Robinson · President · The Ethical Globalization Initiative
o                                Mr. Guy Ryder · General Secretary · International Trade Union Confederation
o                                Mr. Jeremy Hobbs · Executive Director · Oxfam International
o                                Ms. Huguette Labelle · Chair of the Board of Directors · Transparency International
This will be a highly refined, solutions-oriented Summit. Through peer-to-peer interactions with top decision-makers from all segments of the international community, business leaders will have the opportunity to access never-before released intelligence on socio-economic and geopolitical megatrends while developing strategic frameworks to address a range of issues at the nexus of business and society - including climate change, human rights, anti-corruption, and access to finance and capital.
The Global Compact's entire international network - spanning 100 countries - will be on display at the Leaders Summit. The official theme - Facing Realities: Getting Down to Business - will be addressed within the initiative's unique multi-stakeholder orientation, and anchored in the Global Compact's ten universal principles.
"The Global Compact is a universal commitment across our business to key principles", says Neville Isdell, CEO of The Coca-Cola Company and one of the Summit's keynote speakers. "It offers a strategic and operational framework for organizing corporate social responsibility and, as a global initiative with local networks around the world, allows us to act consistently wherever we operate."
CEOs and other business executives will receive state-of-the-art briefings from leaders at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Company to help them prepare for the future, while also dialoguing with thought-leaders and strategists from key emerging and developing markets, including Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
Indeed, the agenda and content of the Summit have been designed and packaged so that business leaders can effectively deliver the intelligence and insights to their respective Boards or equivalent decision-making bodies. In this way, the Summit will deliver sustainable value.
To download History in the Making: The Case for Attending the Global Compact Leaders Summit in PDF format, please click here.
More information about the themes and the agenda can be found on the programme page.
o                                For answers to frequently asked questions regarding the Leaders Summit, please click here
o                                For general information on the Global Compact, please visit the Global Compact website.
The Global Compact Office gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Foundation for the Global Compact and its donors in helping to make the Global Compact Leaders Summit 2007 a reality. More information about the Foundation can be found at Foundation for the Global Compact.
For a list of the Foundation's donors, please visit: www.globalcompactfoundation.org/donors/our.donors.htm