*{Team up to beat poverty, business tells governments (06-05-2002)
[http://www.iccwbo.org/home/denver/denver_rep/opening.asp]}
 
ICC President Richard D McCormick opened the Congress with a call for partnerships between business and governments "to help people everywhere share the benefits of economic growth."

It was a theme that dominated a Congress about the great issues for business at the start of the 21st century, issues that affect everybody's lives. 

Business leaders debated such vital questions as how to contain financial crises, the recent flare-up of trade tensions, and overcoming public fears about biotechnology despite its enormous promise for feeding the hungry 
and curing disease.

Setting the tone for the three-day Congress, President McCormick said that although world poverty had declined more in the past 50 years than in the previous 500 "we still have a long way to go. Too many people live in       poverty, isolation and hopelesness."

Hundreds of ICC members from countries as far afield as Ghana, Cuba, India, Libya, Venezuela, Russia and China attended the Congress, as well as a large contingent from the United States, Europe and other industrialized countries.

Over half the participants were from developing and transition economies, reflecting the determination of business in poorer countries to be fully involved in the global economy as the surest path to wealth creation and      overcoming poverty.

"Trade has contributed immensely to world growth and prosperity in the last half of the century," said Adnan Kassar, a member of the ICC Presidency, who is chairman of the Fransabank Group in Lebanon.

That view was at striking variance with those of hundreds of local anti-globalization and anti-capitalist demonstrators who marched peacefully through downtown Denver to protest against the Congress, which they called "anti-fair trade" and "anti-third world."

Welcoming participants to his state, Colorado Governor Bill Owens said two of the best weapons against terrorism and intolerance were free minds and free markets. "Both are being showcased here in Colorado this week." The       Mayor of Denver, Wellington E. Webb, said the Congress's emphasis on developing countries was of critical importance.

Dean O'Hare, Chairman of the United States Council for International Business - ICC's American affiliate and Congress hosts - said that the United States business community was determined to move forward on the very priorities ICC members held dear. 

Mr O'Hare, who is Chairman and CEO of The Chubb Corporation, said these priorities were "increased international trade and investment, liberalization of regulations and markets around the world, measures to support technological innovation, and a commitment to policies that ensure sustainable development and a better quality of life for everyone".

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