*{Geneva Business Dialogue Conference Report 
  
23 - 24 September 1998 

Business meets the international organizations [http://www.iccwbo.org/home/conferences/reports/geneva_business_dialogue/business_report.asp]}

Geneva Business Dialogue was just that – a dialogue. Questions and comments from the floor came thick and fast at most working sessions. They were supplemented by a programme of private lunch and dinner meetings that gave company executives the opportunity to discover the views of international organizations at the highest level – and to make sure that the international organizations in turn understood business concerns.
Geneva-based organizations, including CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, opened their doors to groups of participants as part of the Dialogue programme.
Issues covered were as varied as the international organizations themselves. They ranged from workers’ rights to building confidence in electronic commerce, from the threat of crime on the Internet to speeding the flow of goods across borders, from improving less developed countries’ access to world markets to the plight of refugees and the origins of armed conflict. 

*partie=titre The nature of modern conflicts *partie=nil

At a dinner meeting on "Humanitarian intervention and prevention in post-Cold War conflicts," Cornelio Sommaruga, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, gave a disturbing account of the nature of modern conflicts. He said they were "pluralistic and polycentric and mostly between next-door neighbours who see each other as threats to their survival and identity."
At the other end of town from the Red Cross event, three of the world’s leading authorities on international crime prevention assessed the dangers of cybercrime. They were Brian Jenkins, Special Advisor to ICC, Eric Ellen of ICC Commercial Crime Services, and Interpol Chief Raymond Kendall. The three experts discussed the part business can play in providing law enforcement with the necessary expertise to meet this threat. 
At a dinner debate entitled "Refugees – why business should care", Sadako Ogata, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, argued that the efforts of the UNHCR deserved the backing of business because business needed stability. This was not a matter of charity or philanthropy. Mrs Ogata appealed for business support in changing the negative image of refugees. Many of them contributed to prosperous societies in the countries that received them.
A dinner on "Business and sports" was the occasion for a speech by Joâo Havelange, Honorary President of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), pointing out the game’s huge economic impact. Mr Havelange said sales directly or indirectly generated by football had reached 'gigantic" proportions, exceeding US$ 200 billion. For the Swatch Group, Hanspeter Rentsch, Member of the Executive Management Board, said funding through industry has become essential to the survival of sport, particularly since many state organizations are having to cut spending on sport drastically as part of general budget tightening. "Industry has thus taken over a large part of the state’s promotion of sport." 

*partie=titre The political dimension *partie=nil

A session with political leaders gave business participants the chance to explore the thinking of Hungary’s Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Peter Hónig, and George Papandreou, Greek Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs. Mr Papandreou spoke of a ‘new dynamic’ towards regional cooperation in the Balkans, a part of the world known for its history of strife. There was a realisation that nations cannot work alone in a globalized world. Mr Hónig observed that there are logical explanations for the current crisis, but a crisis was needed to make them apparent. He noted that business tended to turn to governments when things were going wrong.

*partie=titre Can trade transform least developed countries? *partie=nil

The lunch hosted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) gave a remarkably up-beat picture of the potential for LDCs to increase trade and attract investment – but speakers noted that to do so they must reduce business risks and promote economic liberalization within a multilateral framework of rules. Ishmael Yamson, Chairman and CEO of Unilever Ghana, said WTO member governments must respect both the letter and the spirit of Uruguay Round agreements to improve access for least developed countries to markets in the developed world.

*partie=titre Forging global messaging standards for electronic trade *partie=nil

Discussions with officials of the UN Economic Commission for Europe identified considerable scope for cooperation between UN/ECE and ICC in the development of international messaging standards. Åke Nilson, Chairman of ICC’s Electronic Commerce Project, said ICC rules, which demonstrated custom and practice among merchants, could occupy the middle ground between mere private contracts and fully binding international conventions. The conclusion was that there are no big obstacles to electronic commerce on the horizon, but important cultural differences must be taken into account.

*partie=titre The next big issues facing the WTO *partie=nil

WTO Deputy Director General Anwarul Hoda said many of the "new issues" now on the WTO’s agenda – such as the linkages between trade and environment, competition, and investment – encroach on what previously came under the purview of national governments and impose multilateral disciplines where none existed before. Jonathan Fried, Assistant Deputy Minister for Trade and Economic Policy of Canada, said that to ensure the success of upcoming multilateral trade negotiations, business should provide practical input to governments into the preparatory process now under way. 

*partie=titre Intellectual property issues for tomorrow *partie=nil

The predominant question during the lunch debate hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was how the economic exploitation of knowledge and ideas would be affected by technological economic and social change. Shozo Uemura, WIPO’s Deputy Director General, recalled ICC’s close association with the organization’s evolution, and said it wanted to ensure that ICC would be involved in future improvements.

*partie=titre The economics of health care today *partie=nil

Michael Scholtz, Executive Director for Health Technology at the World Health Organization (WHO), said the organization’s new Director-General, Gro Harlem Brundtland, wanted to reach out to private-sector healthcare providers as natural partners. He told the lunch debate that relevant questions were: how can the private sector interact with WHO? What are their common goals? How can they build sustainable partnerships? Manuel Martinez Dominguez, President of Mexico’s Columbia Laboratories, said there was good ground for collaboration between WHO and business since both shared the goal of keeping people healthy.

*partie=titre Trading in emissions – a solution for climate change? *partie=nil

To make emissions trading a reality, business requires governments worldwide to rapidly provide the "regulatory glue" to catalyse the market for certified carbon offsets, business panellists told participants at the World Meteorological organization lunch hosted by WMO Secretary General G.O.P. Obasi. Juan Rada, Managing Director, The Environmental Partnership, said a key challenge was to develop a mechanism to pay for the services of nature. A transparent system of carbon offset trading would be one effective method. Gustav Grisard, Chairman and CEO, HIAG Holding, said Swiss business endorsed the use of market-oriented instruments and would refuse to accept a heavy handed command-and-control approach.

*partie=titre Speed and facilitation of the flow of goods *partie=nil

Martin Marmy, Secretary General of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) called for a broad business campaign to convince governments that invisible barriers to cross-border trade must be removed. He cited an IRU study of five European countries that found that the economic cost of these invisible barriers – among them congestion, border delays, commercial traffic bans and strikes – was US$ 16 billion per year. The countries covered were the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom. James Shaver, Secretary General of the World Customs Organization, was moderator for the session. 

*partie=titre New issues in a converged environment *partie=nil

So important is competition in telecommunications markets for e-commerce that a new name was required for the sector, according to Pekka Tarjanne, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). He proposed that henceforth, electronic commerce should be called "telectronic commerce." He said that the ITU, which had both companies and governments among its members, was the embodiment of the public-private sector dialogue that was the main theme of the Geneva Business Dialogue.
 
*partie=titre Fundamental rights at work and the business community *partie=nil

Participants received an update on the work of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Göran Hultin, ILO’s Assistant Director-General for Enterprise Activities , gave a briefing on the ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which was adopted by governments, employers and workers at the June 1998 session of the ILO. Discussion centered on practical management implications for business. 

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