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Promoting stability and growth meeting opens in Almaty

[Kazakhstan] UNDP resident representative for Kazakhstan, Fikret Akcura.
David Swanson/IRIN
UNDP resident representative for Kazakhstan, Fikret Akcura
A regional meeting on promoting stability and growth in Central Asia through expanded business opportunities, partnered by the United Nations Global Compact and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and sponsored by the German government, opened in the Kazakh commercial capital, Almaty, on Thursday. "This meeting is a part and next step in our continuing efforts to emphasise the importance of development challenges facing the Central Asian region," Fikret Akcura, the UNDP resident representative in Kazakhstan, told IRIN from Almaty. In an address to The World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan challenged business leaders to join an international initiative - the Global Compact - that would bring companies together with UN agencies, labour and civil society to support nine principles in the areas of human rights, labour and the environment. "It is increasingly recognised that internationally agreed standards help in local situations where host governments yet lack capacity to enforce standards. Through the power of collective action, the Global Compact seeks to advance responsible corporate citizenship so that business can be part of the solution to the development challenges," Akcura said. The two-day meeting comprising Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan is a follow-up to the UN Global Compact Policy Dialogue events held during 2001-2002. Participants of those events identified challenges and developed a set of policies and guidelines to address issues of transparency, conflict impact assessment and risk management, multi-stakeholder partnership initiatives, and revenue sharing regimes. "By holding this regional meeting in the Central Asian region, the UN Global Compact is seeking to translate these general policies and guidelines into practical recommendations and concrete actions adapted to the development context of the region," Akcura noted. According to the UN official, the main goal of the meeting is to initiate a dialogue among public sector, private sector and the civil society on their evolving roles to expand the benefits of economic development, with a particular focus on the role of business in promoting growth and stability in Central Asia. As part of the German-sponsored event, discussion topics will focus on the strategic importance of the Central Asian region, development prospects until 2015, business sector strengthening through industrial development, diversification of economy and support for small and medium enterprises, as well as effective use of oil revenues and expansion of regional economic cooperation. Asked what impact the conference was likely to have, Akcura said the meeting would bring Global Compact Policy Dialogue to Central Asian countries, to share thinking regarding how business could have a positive impact on growth and stability in the region. It would also emphasise the importance of partnerships between state and non-state actors in advancing the development agenda. Additionally, it was expected that discussions during the meeting would provide feedback to the recommendations and guidelines on the key topics stemming from the Global Compact Policy Dialogue. Firmly tackling governance and corruption will be an important challenge for the Central Asian transition countries in the future, the UN official maintained. "There is considerable evidence that corruption is associated with lower investment, slower economic growth, concentration of government spending on less productive activities, and a greater evidence of income inequality and poverty," he stressed.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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