Ban appeals for corporate leadership in building sustainable, inclusive markets

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged the private sector to take the helm in the “urgent task” of building markets that are more sustainable and inclusive.

He made the call ahead of a major gathering next summer that will bring together business leaders, government ministers and heads of civil society groups committed to United Nations principles.

“We face market breakdowns, environmental degradation, hunger, climate change and many other crises,” Mr. Ban said in a message for the website for the Global Compact Leaders Summit, to be held in June 2010 in at UN Headquarters in New York.

The event can “project a vision of the kind of corporate leadership we need to defeat poverty, protect the planet and achieve other vital goals,” he said, underscoring the importance of collaboration in achieving these targets.

The June gathering will mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate responsibility initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with 10 universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.