Distribution Network
Content
The world’s third largest mining company has urged the United Nations to bring together companies, governments and civil society for an urgent review of progress towards the UN millennium development goals (MDG).
Anglo American is concerned that the UN has not yet set a date for a meeting requested last July by the heads of more than 20 multinational companies. Their call for talks was contained in a statement drawn up by the British prime minister Gordon Brown and signed by the heads of Anglo American, Microsoft, PepsiCo and Vodafone. It asked the UN to convene a special meeting in 2008 to discuss the likelihood that the MDGs will not be achieved by the 2015 target date.
Edward Bickham, Anglo American’s executive vice-president of external affairs, told EP: ‘We wouldn’t describe ourselves as frustrated, but we are certainly keen to see some progress. If we’re going to have this meeting it would be sensible to map out the route to it, what it will look at, and when it’s going to be held. We’re not even clear whether the UN has agreed to the principle of the meeting or not.’ He added that his company was convinced of the need for a gathering to allow ‘government, business and communal society to look at the rather patchy progress on the MDGs and to see what each of the parties can do to accelerate things’.
A recent UN progress report on the MDGs – which state targets for reducing social ills such as poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy – concluded that the world is not on course to meet any of the objectives by 2015.
The company believes that if the goals are to be realized, business must be involved, especially in the areas of infrastructure development, ‘human and institutional capacity building’ and disaster relief.
Anglo American has decided to make its in-house Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox, which is designed to identify and manage the social and economic impacts of the company’s operations, available on its website for other companies to use. It feels the system, which has now been used at almost 60 of its operations, could be valuable to all companies and sectors.
Anglo American is concerned that the UN has not yet set a date for a meeting requested last July by the heads of more than 20 multinational companies. Their call for talks was contained in a statement drawn up by the British prime minister Gordon Brown and signed by the heads of Anglo American, Microsoft, PepsiCo and Vodafone. It asked the UN to convene a special meeting in 2008 to discuss the likelihood that the MDGs will not be achieved by the 2015 target date.
Edward Bickham, Anglo American’s executive vice-president of external affairs, told EP: ‘We wouldn’t describe ourselves as frustrated, but we are certainly keen to see some progress. If we’re going to have this meeting it would be sensible to map out the route to it, what it will look at, and when it’s going to be held. We’re not even clear whether the UN has agreed to the principle of the meeting or not.’ He added that his company was convinced of the need for a gathering to allow ‘government, business and communal society to look at the rather patchy progress on the MDGs and to see what each of the parties can do to accelerate things’.
A recent UN progress report on the MDGs – which state targets for reducing social ills such as poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy – concluded that the world is not on course to meet any of the objectives by 2015.
The company believes that if the goals are to be realized, business must be involved, especially in the areas of infrastructure development, ‘human and institutional capacity building’ and disaster relief.
Anglo American has decided to make its in-house Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox, which is designed to identify and manage the social and economic impacts of the company’s operations, available on its website for other companies to use. It feels the system, which has now been used at almost 60 of its operations, could be valuable to all companies and sectors.Super Featured
No
Featured
No