The high-level portion of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) wrapped up last week in New York, attended by President Donald Trump and other heads of state, and featuring numerous parallel events involving business and business issues.
For the first time, USCIB convened a series of meetings during UNGA week to highlight challenges and opportunities for the U.S. business community in advancing inclusive growth and sustainable development, working with the United Nations, and the importance of partnering with the U.S. government in advancing economic and other benefits at home and abroad. USCIB events highlighted key U.S. business recommendations and involvement to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), inform climate change policy and implementation, and advance inclusive business engagement as part of UN reform.
These discussions explored the “ingredients for impact” to catalyze business contributions to the SDG’s under the theme, “Business Makes It Happen.” Over the course of the week, USCIB worked closely with and welcomed representatives of the U.S Department of State, the Office for Management and Budget, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
USCIB organized 2 Breakfast Roundtables on:
- Data analytics for SDGs and national reports, and
- Public private partnerships for SDG impact
USCIB members KPMG, Deloitte and Pfizer hosted USCIB events, which drew high-level participants and speakers including OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria, Assistant UN Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs Thomas Gass, Assistant UN Secretary General and Head of the NY office of UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Elliott Harris and Chief of the NY office of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Chantal Line Carpentier. CEO of Novozymes and USCIB Board member and sustainability champion Peder Holk Nielsen presided over USCIB’s UNGA week wrap up event.
In addition to USCIB-organized events, USCIB was honored to work with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and to represent the International Organization of Employers (IOE) in the launch of two important initiatives: the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) and the ILO Alliance 8.7 study, “Global Estimates on Modern Slavery.”
USCIB joined forces with Business Fights Poverty to co-host the September 18 Business Fights Poverty Conference, “Rethinking Collaboration for the SDG’s”.
A full review of these meetings, their recommendations and next steps, as well as other USCIB involvement in UNGA week will be shared later this week.
