BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 29
Trend:
On 26th of November, some 80 participants from the government agencies, businesses, international organizations, civil society and the media took part in the UN-organized conference, dedicated to the role of business in delivering the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Co-organized by the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, UNICEF, UN Global Compact, UN Women and UNDP, the conference underlined the importance of integrating the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact on human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption into business policies and practices.
Within the frame of the conference, a CEO Panel on Closing the Inequality Gap: Human Rights as a Driver for Successful Business was held with participation of Mr. Rainer Rathgeber, Chief Executive Officer of Bakcell, Mr. Ahmet C. Dorduncu, Chairman of the Executive Board, Akkök Holding, President of the Board of Directors, the UN Global Compact Network Turkey, Mr. Archil Bakuradze, Chair of the Supervisory Board, MicroFinance Organization Crystal, Republic of Georgia and CEO of Norm Cement Henning Sasse.
Speaking at the CEO Panel, Bakcell CEO Rainer Rathgeber shared information about the main directions of corporate social responsibility program of Bakcell and talked about the importance of businesses’ contribution to delivery of sustainable development goals: “Being a big business, we are able to make sincere decisions on how to contribute to the society by means of our corporate social responsibility program. Within its frames, Bakcell has supported and continues to support the most sensitive groups of population as well as the development of such important areas as education, sports, provision of equal rights and opportunities and even environmental protection”.
In partnership with various organizations, Bakcell supports children and teenagers deprived from parental care and children from economically disadvantaged families. Moreover, the company is implementing projects to ensure the provision of equal rights and opportunities to children with a need for special care, efficient organization of their time and their complete integration to the society.
“Working in big companies and the consumer business, we sometimes think that we live in a perfect world, but the world is not perfect and we forget a lot of people. We should not forget about people who didn’t get a good education, people with special needs and people whose talents didn’t have a chance to be seen. My message to all the big companies out there is – do not focus on delivering big speeches, and try to do some real good things every day to make sure no one is forgotten!” added Mr. Rathgeber.
Launched in 2000 as a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the UN Global Compact provides a framework for developing a more sustainable and responsible business. Today, the UN Global Compact is the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world, with more than 10,000 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and more than 60 Local Networks.