Rajat Gupta, chairman of USCIB’s affiliate the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), will be in New York the week of September 20 to join over 100 heads of state, ministers, private sector and civil society leaders to participate at the high-level events scheduled for the opening of the 65th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. The focus of this year’s opening events will be on accelerating progress to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Governments and the UN system now recognize that the business community is a critical partner in achieving United Nations goals, and that more extensive and deeper collaboration with the private sector is required. The MDG Summit will take place September 20-22 and is conceived by UN member states as a significant opportunity to galvanize commitment, rally support and spur collective action in order to reach the MDGs by 2015. Invited by the president of the General Assembly to represent the private sector, Mr. Gupta will address a full plenary session on September 22.
That same day, Mr. Gupta, senior partner emeritus with McKinsey & Company, will attend the third United Nations Private Sector Forum. The forum will offer an unprecedented opportunity for business leaders to dialogue with heads of state and heads of UN agencies on business contributions to achieving the MDGs. Opened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the event will feature focused roundtable discussions designed to maximize peer-to-peer interactions and generate a range of commitments to action, leveraging both individual and collective efforts.
On September 21, Mr. Gupta is to join top officials of the UN Development Program and the International Business Leaders Forum to host the World Business and Development Awards Ceremony at the United Nations Millennium Plaza Hotel. Established by ICC in 2000, the awards recognize the contributions of the private sector in achieving the Millennium Development Goals through companies’ core business, and in the process raise awareness, promote best practices, and encourage further action. The 2010 awards received an unprecedented 172 applications from 42 countries.
This year’s patron for the award ceremony is President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia. Also attending as keynote speakers are Andrew Mitchell, secretary of state for international affairs of the United Kingdom, Raj Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Helen Clark, administrator of UNDP, and Mo Ibrahim, chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
Staff contact: Louise Kantrow
