"Real business ventures are the only way to provide financially self-sustaining solutions to poverty"

Geneva, 17 July 2006 - "Markets can work for everyone but this requires an innovative approach that unleashes entrepreneurship at the local level," the WBCSD argued at a recent United Nations (UN) hearing. "Many of our members are already promoting sustainable and inclusive business activities with partners from the development community and civil society, and we believe there is much more we can do."

The objective of the UN General Assembly’s hearing was to create a space where civil society and the private sector can interact with Member States and offer input into the midterm review process of the implementation of the "Program of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 2001 – 2010". The program aims at improving the human condition of the more than 700 million people of the fifty Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which represent the poorest and weakest segment of the international community. Adopted at the Third United Nations Conference on the LDCs in Brussels in 2001, it provides a framework for a global partnership between LDCs and their development partners.

Filippo Veglio, speaking on behalf of the WBCSD, outlined three principles to deliver successful business with low-income communities:

• Focus on the core competencies of the company when adapting business models to look for ways to reduce the costs of products and services
• Partner with other stakeholders that offer complementary expertise to the management know-how, technology and operational skills of a company
• Localize suppliers and service providers so as to promote entrepreneurship, increase the capacity of small and medium enterprises, and create local jobs, thereby lifting people into the formal economy and global market place

He added that the Council believes that "[b]usiness could do more to help the least developed countries if the framework conditions were more conducive to investment and the management of risks. [...] If governments take upon the task of accelerating the creation of a favorable business environment, business can harness its innovation and problem-solving skills to unleash local entrepreneurship."

The WBCSD suggests that governments focus on the following priorities, which will have a multiplier effect on development:

1. The improvement of regulatory frameworks to uphold property rights, to promote greater movement of entrepreneurs to the formal economy, and to root out corruption
2. Capacity building and access to finance for local enterprises and entrepreneurs
3. Investment in the necessary infrastructure such as roads, energy, telecommunications, and ports

United Nations officials and diplomats acknowledged the efforts of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society groups and business to combat poverty in the world's LDCs and emphasized that governments must hear the strong call of these organizations for action to help the world's poorest people.

"We hope to see a civil society that really is influencing the decisions that this intergovernmental body, the United Nations, arrives at", said Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown.

"Indeed, civil society, NGOs and the private sector are already playing a big role but I urge greater engagement with the specific needs of the world’s 50 poorest nations," said Mr. Chowdhury, High Representative for the LDCs, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. He stressed that civil society's ability to forge coalitions that transcend borders must help the development cause of LDCs.

The hearing was part of a series of meetings, round tables and panel discussions in preparation of the High Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the midterm review in September 2006.

More information:

• Read the WBCSD statement ( 23 kb) as delivered and distributed at the hearings in New York
• Watch the webcast of the sessions
  • Morning session
  • Afternoon session (the WBCSD's statement is the first of the p.m. session)
• Summary of the hearing ( 60 kb) prepared by the President of the UN General Assembly in view of the midterm review process of the implementation of the "Program of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 2001 – 2010", scheduled for September 2006
• The WBCSD's work on Development

Author WBCSD Publication Date 17 Jul 2006 Document Type WBCSD news Issue/Topic Development Region North America Country United States Company GrupoNueva S.A. Vodafone Group Plc Source WBCSD Include In RSS Business & Development News WBCSD News & Updates