UN Global Compact Leaders Summit:

Ravi Fernando represents Sri Lanka

The UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2010 brought together leaders from all sectors to elevate the role of responsible business and investment in bringing about the needed transformation to more sustainable and inclusive markets. The Global Compact Leaders Summit 2010 was the largest-ever UN-business event on the issue of corporate responsibility. More than 1,000 leaders representing business, Governments, civil society, academia and the UN System attended the conference held in New York USA recently.

The UN Global Compact Focal Point for Sri Lanka Ravindra Fernando said, 'The UN Global Compact which was set up in 1999 by the UN Secretary General at that time Kofi Annan with the objective of forming a Compact amongst the world's business community to work together with the United Nations to impact global sustainability directly impacting the UN Millennium Development Goals (UNMDGs) in a strategic manner within its sphere of influence.

In its tenth year of existence it has over 8,000 members in 135 nations and has achieved a tipping point as the world's largest and most impactful corporate responsibility initiative, as today global business occupy over 60 positions of the top 100 economic entities of the world and have a sphere of influence which directly impacts global sustainability. It is in this context the UN global compact World Leadership Summit was held in New York with a view to 'energizing the membership' to impact sustainable development by creating sustainable value impacting all its stakeholders.

Chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2010 provided the platform for organizations to convene, collaborate and commit to building a new era of sustainability - an era where environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are deeply integrated into business based on both material and ethical rationales.