*{How business helps to defuse conflicts (07-05-2002) [http://www.iccwbo.org/home/denver/denver_rep/conflict.asp]}

Conflict is the enemy of business, but if business is able to operate it can reduce the threat of conflict. This was among main conclusions of speakers at a session on world tensions and their impact on business. 

ExxonMobil Executive Vice President René Dahan said conflict and instability threatened not only the safety and well-being of nations, but the basic ability of business operations to succeed.

When business could not succeed, it was unable to provide significant enhancements to local economies through employment opportunities and community investments in improved education, health services and infrastructure development, Mr Dahan said.

These kind of developments, he asserted, are those "upon which national progress can be built, and in the face of which conflict often recedes." Mr Dahan cited ExxonMobil's operations in Malaysia, Colombia and Chad as examples where a business presence led to increased prosperity and tolerance - and reduced conflict. 

Gareth Evans, former Australian Foreign Minister and President of the International Crisis Group, Brussels, said businesses have always been accustomed to operate in a climate of risk. Mr Evans urged business to avoid acting in a way that led to weapons proliferation, to contribute to the transfer of technology and to help rebuild post-conflict societies.

Moisés Naim, Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Policy Magazine, listed five types of war that affected businesses - illegal trade in drugs, arms, people, money and intellectual property. None of the conflicts was new and all had 
boomed in the last 10 years, and were propelled by globalization. Multilateral action and new institutions were needed to cope with them.

Harry Harding, Dean, the Elliott School of International Affairs, the George Washington University, United States, said "East Asia is home to virtually every kind of security problem that we are going to see in the 21st century." He saw shifting relationships between major nation states, for example between Japan and China, and said this could lead to another Cold War scenario. By contributing to the interdependence of economies in South East Asia, business was helping to reduce tensions in the area.

*{back to sessions list}