New Report by UN Secretary-General Highlights UN-Business Cooperation

( New York, 5 November 2009 ) – Underscoring the need for sustainable business practices and broader private sector engagement in light of global challenges, the UN Secretary-General’s report on Enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and all relevant partners, in particular the private sector ( A/64/337 ) was presented to UN General Assembly’s Second Committee today.

Taking stock of current, system-wide efforts to enhance private-sector cooperation, the report concludes that the UN is “well-positioned to bring private sector engagement to the next level and significantly enhance its contribution to the goals of the Organization”.

While describing the revised Guidelines on Cooperation between the UN and the Business Community (to be issued shortly), and the upcoming UN and Business website as “key milestones”, the Secretary-General cautions that “efforts are needed to develop a more strategic and coherent approach to partner selection and engagement, integrate small companies and those from low-income countries, align global partnerships with country development agendas, build an enabling framework for partnerships, build capacity of staff, enhance mechanisms to share best practices and improve evaluation and impact assessment”.

The report further issues a strong call for the continued caretaking of the UN-business relationship by the Global Compact Office. “Because of its extended network, understanding of business interests and public-private structure, the Global Compact Office plays a central role in facilitating and strengthening the United Nations partnership agenda at the system level,” the report states.

The presentation was followed by several affirmative statements from representatives of UN member states. Today’s presentation is expected to contribute to a General Assembly resolution providing further support for the Global Compact’s mandate. 

The report was developed in compliance with General Assembly Resolution A/RES/62/211, requesting the Secretary-General to submit a report on the implementation of the proposed modalities for enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and all relevant partners.

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