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Speeches - UNDP Administrator

Your Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah,
Your Excellency, President Wade,
Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to first start by thanking our partners at the International Chamber of Commerce and the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum for organizing with us the World Business and Development Awards - the first worldwide business awards to recognize the crucial role of the private sector in sustainable development

I am pleased to be here tonight among these innovative business leaders from around the world.

The ten companies we are honouring tonight with the 2008 World Business and Development Awards have demonstrated with their actions that if we are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals we need to reach out to new partners. Collectively, these ten businesses have improved the lives of millions of people in Asia, Africa and Latin America. From delivering financial services via mobile phones to so many in Kenya who had been on the margins of the banking sector, to expanding electricity to the poorest neighbourhoods of Brazil or to providing over 10,000 Nigerian farmers with secure markets and access to commercial finance and technical assistance to produce high quality crops, these initiatives demonstrate that business can be an engine of growth and sustainable development.

This evening, I also have the privilege, along with our partners from the Global Compact, the International Business Leaders Forum, The Clinton Global Initiative and DFID, and in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, to present to you the Global Partnership for the Business Call to Action, launched earlier today at the UN.  This initiative will encourage more private sector companies to engage in inclusive business models, demonstrating that the pursuit of wealth creation and human progress can be harnessed to work to everyone’s benefit.   The Business Call to Action will also track commitments companies make, and acquire lessons on what works well for both businesses and poor communities, enabling good practices to be shared and replicated around the world.

We all know that, despite impressive progress over the years, the development challenges we face are enormous. An estimated 2.6 billion people earn less than $2 a day. Nearly a billion people lack clean water, and 1.6 billion people lack electricity.  Yet the poor, roughly half of all of the people on this planet, are a largely untapped source of innovation, entrepreneurial activity, consumption and production.

As the world becomes more interdependent, “doing business with the poor” has shown not only to be a potential boost to a company’s competiveness, but also – with the right business model -- be a force multiplier in the fight against poverty.  Business can create domestic employment and wealth, free local entrepreneurial energies, all of which contribute to the reaching the Millennium Development Goals.

Through the World Business and Development Awards and the Business Call to Action, we are presenting a new approach — moving beyond minimum standards, beyond philanthropy and beyond traditional corporate social responsibility - to develop long-term business initiatives that harness the resources and talents that are the central strengths of global business.  This is a potent demonstration of our collective commitment to being a strong partner to the private sector in furthering shared aims.

To be sure, laissez-faire approaches alone will not end poverty.  The effectiveness of the private sector and the quality of life of a state’s citizens depend greatly on the quality and capacity of the State’s political, financial and economic institutions. To help the poor, a government has numerous roles to play, such as ensuring fair competition and that private agents have incentives to expand their productive capacity and to use it well.  And the State also has to ensure that the most vulnerable are supported.  

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our aim is to meet the world’s Millennium Development Goals and achieve sustainable development - a goal fraught with challenges.  Meeting these challenges head on requires creativity.

It requires all of us working together - private companies, donors, policymakers, philanthropists, public service leaders, the international community and nongovernmental organizations.

And it requires engaging in a policy dialogue, adapting products and services to the needs of the poor and investing in infrastructure or training.

By celebrating the winners of the World Business and Development Awards and sharing best core business practices, we aim to build awareness of the MDGs in the business community.  We hope that these initiatives will inspire other companies to follow in the footsteps of the ten awardees. We also hope that many other companies will join the Business Call to Action.

And now it is a great honour for me to introduce Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, an outspoken advocate of the MDGs and of advancing health and promoting excellence and innovation in education across the globe.

In addition to her special interest in protecting children from violence and expanding women’s active participation in the workforce around the world, Queen Rania has been, and still is, actively involved in developing income-generating projects and advancing best practices in the field of microfinance.  She was among the leaders spearheading the call to action on the Millennium Development Goals alongside UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in January this year.

Your Majesty, the floor is yours.

Click here to read Queen Rania's speech.