COCA COLA, MICROSOFT BOOST PROFITS WHILE PROMOTING AFRICAN, ASIAN DEVELOPMENT – UN

Coca Cola and Microsoft are among dozens of companies which are adding to their bottom line while helping Africa and Asia meet their development targets as part of a United Nations-backed scheme.

Global business leaders gathered in Cape Town, South Africa, today to celebrate the first anniversary of the Business Call to Action International Partnership, which was launched in May 2008 in London by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom.

The programme "builds upon the enlightened self-interest of the private sector to find financial gains while contributing to development and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs]," said Bruce Jenks, Director of UNDPs' Partnership Bureau, referring to the eight anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline.

"At a time when global business leaders are facing difficult decisions about how to manage growing costs and dwindling profits, it is even more important for companies to boldly explore business models that include the poor in their core strategies," he added.

In just its first year, over 60 CEOs have signed on to the Business Call to Action Declaration, committing their companies to invest in ending poverty.

So far, 18 companies – including PepsiCo and Cadbury – have launched initiatives creating thousands of new jobs, setting up hundreds of small independent businesses and boosting trade and sourcing from Africa and Asia.

Coca Cola has created 700 small distribution centres in Africa, generating 4,500 new jobs, while Microsoft has launched its Students to Business Programme in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya and Senegal.

For its part, Cisco Systems is currently establishing several Connected Community Research Centres in Kenya to bring many affordable services to local residents, and SABMiller is trying to double the amount of barley it sources from India, in an initiative benefiting 7,500 farmers.
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UN JOINS GLOBAL TASK FORCE TO CREATE NEW ‘GREEN’ ECONOMY

United Nations officials will begin work with a task force, launched today in London, charged with developing a set of practical projects and policy proposals to stimulate a new low-carbon global economy.

The initiative comes in response to an invitation made by United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the annual World Economic Forum Summit in Davos, Switzerland, in January to create an unprecedented low-carbon prosperity task force.

Some 52 businesses and 34 experts and organizations have joined the task force, which will work with governments and organizations such as the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Foundation to identify how to create millions of urgently needed "green jobs" and to steer global economic growth onto a more sustainable, low-carbon direction.

"We believe 2009 is a crucial year for two reasons," Richard Samans, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum, said in an open letter to Mr. Brown ahead of this week's so-called Group of 20 (G-20) Summit in London, which will discuss solutions to the current global economic crisis.

Mr. Samans suggested that by placing low-carbon growth strategies at the heart of economic stimulus measures being injected into many ailing economies, tackling the global recession and achieving a new international treaty on reducing greenhouse gas emissions – to be concluded at the UN-led climate change conference in Copenhagen in December – can be mutually reinforcing.

"The G-20 governments can, politically and practically, signal their determination to transform the current economic crisis into an opportunity by committing a serious part of the multi-trillion dollar stimulus packages to low-carbon investments," said Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director.

"In doing so, they will be setting the stage for sealing the deal in Copenhagen, and setting the stage for a resource efficient, innovation-led 21st century green economy. That is what business needs to know and that is what the low-carbon prosperity initiative is calling for," he added.
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ECONOMIC CRISIS COULD TRIGGER POLITICAL INSTABILITY, SOCIAL UNREST, WARNS BAN

As the economic crisis engulfing the world continues to intensify, it could potentially herald political instability and social unrest, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, calling for a four-pronged strategy to prevent the onset of new catastrophes.

The financial turmoil cannot roll back gains made towards achieving the global anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Mr. Ban told reporters in New York, following a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, ahead of the so-called Group of 20 (G-20) meeting next week in London.

"Social recovery will take much longer than economic recovery," he said. "A child taken out of school today will bear the consequences for the rest of his or her life."

The Secretary-General said he outlined a four-point proposal for the G-20 nations – which he has also relayed in a letter to their leaders – during his talks with Mr. Brown.

Firstly, in addition to their own stimulus packages, G-20 nations should commit to support a global stimulus plan, which must be "of a very substantial size, commensurate with the challenge," Mr. Ban said. This package must include assistance for the poorest and most vulnerable countries, long-term public lending from development banks and cash aid to both least-developed and middle-income developing countries.

He also stressed the need to firmly reject protectionism and revive the Doha round of trade liberalization negotiations to allow real benefits to reach developing nations.

Another element of his plan is the 'greening' of the global economy, including in poorer countries, with G-20 leaders committing to conclude negotiations and reach agreement on an ambitious successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period ends in 2012, in Copenhagen this December.

Lastly, the Secretary-General highlighted the importance of reforming "global rules and institutions so that they reflect today's economic and political landscape."

He voiced hope that the upcoming G-20 "Summit for Stability, Growth and Jobs" can send a "signal of solidarity and hope to all peoples and countries of the world."

The 2 April gathering in London will be one of several stops on a nearly two-week trip that will also take Mr. Ban to Russia, Qatar, the Netherlands, France and Turkey.
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EU Finance Ministers To Back Doubling Of IMF Funds At G20.

Documents have showed that EU finance ministers will back a call from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to double its funds to $500 billion at the G20 finance ministers' meeting today.

According to Reuters, EU member states support a doubling of IMF resources and are ready to contribute to a temporary increase, if needed,' it said. It said the increase should be funded by direct borrowing from members, especially those with large currency reserves.

G20 countries are likely to more than double the IMF's $250 billion resources for aiding crisis-struck members at their April 2 summit, the UK's envoy to the group said Sunday.

Mark Malloch Brown said that his talks with members of the G20 developed and developing nations showed a commitment to bring the IMF's available aid funds to 'at least' $500 billion. He said $500 billion was 'the minimum needed' to reassure markets that the world's leading economies were taking action to counter the global crisis.

In related news, the BBC reports that the UK will contribute to a new World Bank fund for the poorest countries, as confirmed by Gordon Brown on Monday. The fund calls on the richest nations to finance it with 0.7 percent of the money they have used to bail out the banks.

The prime minister will address a two-day conference in London a month ahead of the G20 summit of the world's biggest economies. The conference, being billed as a 'poverty summit', has been called to ensure the poorest people are not forgotten in the response to the global economic downturn.