*{Globalization: What Is At Stake? [http://www.weforum.org/site/knowledgenavigator.nsf/Content/Globalization%3A%20What%20Is%20At%20Stake%3F?open&topic_id=300250000&theme_id=300]

            28.01.2001

            Annual Meeting 2001}

            *partie=titre UN Secretary-General Urges More Business Support for Global Compact *partie=nil

            "If we cannot make globalization work for all, in the end it will work for none. The unequal distribution of benefits and the imbalances in global rule-making, which characterize globalization today, inevitably will produce backlash and protectionism. And that, in turn, threatens to undermine and ultimately unravel the open world economy that has been so painstakingly constructed over the course of the past half-century."

            The warning came from Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the UN, in a special session of the Annual Meeting. Calling on more businesses to take part in the UN’s Global Compact, launched at the Annual Meeting in 1999, Annan announced the appointment of Göran Lindahl, former chief executive of ABB, Switzerland, to lead a corporate recruitment effort to bring 1,000 major companies to the compact by 2002.

            The Global Compact aims to enlist the help of businesses to build the missing social infrastructure of the new global economy by supporting nine principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards and the environment. Many business leaders have responded positively, Annan said.

            "You in this hall may take for granted that [globalization] can and will [work for all the world’s people]," Annan said. "But it is a much tougher sell out there, in a world where half of our fellow human beings struggle to survive on less than two dollars a day, where less than 10% of the global health research budget is aimed at the health problems afflicting 90% of the world’s population," and where intellectual property rites are protected more rigorously than fundamental human rights.

            Violent conflict is the biggest obstacle to social and economic progress in many parts of the world, the UN chief said. Accepting that this is primarily the responsibility of governments, companies operating in such areas should act in ways that improve the chance of peace, or at least do not fuel the conflict. "Within the Global Compact, we are about to launch our first thematic dialogue seeking to establish a common understanding as to the appropriate roles companies can and should play in zones of conflict," announced Annan.

            Those who have criticized the Compact should remember that for the UN, "engaging with the private sector is not an option. It is an imperative", said Annan. "Only through effective partnerships can we beat back endemic or epidemic disease." Investment is of decisive importance for the developing world. "The only developing countries that really are developing are those that have succeeded in attracting significant amounts of direct foreign investment, as well as mobilizing the savings and resources of their own citizens." The others are missing out -- despite the fact that many of them have adopted very welcoming regulatory frameworks to encourage foreign investment - because they lack the infrastructure and markets.

            "International companies could help to change this, by working together and working with governments, to reduce the risks and costs of doing business in the least developed countries," said Annan. The Secretary-General said that he had set up a small group of advisers to help find ways of bridging the "digital divide," of crucial importance for the future of many poor countries.

            Developing countries need faster and more generous debt relief, increased development assistance to attract investment, and the opening up of rich countries’ markets to poor countries’ products. Business leaders could help advocate these initiatives.

            "Companies are learning that as markets have gone global, so must the concept and practice of corporate social responsibility". Annan warned that the fragility of globalization is a direct challenge to the self-interest of the corporate sector.

            Business and civil society leaders represent the vanguard of tomorrow’s global society in which open markets must be underpinned by shared values and global solidarity. Their actions would determine whether everyone, rich and poor alike, will benefit from globalization.
                       *{Contributors:       Annan Kofi
                  Lindahl Göran
                  Schwab Klaus}