At the 10th annual UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in New York this week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged business leaders to invest more in developing countries to help with global economic growth. Mr. Ban stressed that with foreign and official aid coming under pressure because of global economic woes, foreign direct investment must play a greater role in helping reduce global poverty: "As the world continues to reel from the financial crisis, and as climate change, poverty, resource constraints and other threats test our capabilities, we need business as our partner more than ever". As a child raised in the post-war Republic of Korea, Mr. Ban has seen first hand the power of foreign direct investment in developing a country.
The Global Compact initiative brings together over 8,000 companies from around the world based on the idea that "business, as a primary agent driving globalization, can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology, and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere," according the UNGC overview. The Compact attempts to align business ambitions with the Millennium Development Goals, the 8 eight global anti-poverty targets set out by the UN in 2000.
-Matthew Thwaites
SOURCES: 'Invest more in the developing world'-UN News Centre, Overview of the UN Global Compact
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