Gordon Brown calls on business to meet development goals

Some of the largest businesses in the world have been asked by the Prime Minister to help meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the Business Call to Action meeting at Canary Wharf on 6 May. 

You (business) can make a difference. We know that if we can work together to forge a new and far-sighted coalition for change we can ensure that the benefits of globalisation flow not just to the few and fortunate but to every part of our global society.

The MDGs form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions to meet the needs of the world's poorest people by 2015.

New business initiatives 

On 6 May, more than 80 CEOs from some of the world's largest companies came to London to discuss new business initiatives to reduce poverty in the developing world.

The event highlighted initiatives by more than a dozen global companies, including Citi, Coca-Cola, Diageo, Microsoft, Sumitomo Chemical, Thomson Reuters and Vodafone - with a view to inspiring others to do the same.

Over the next five years, the initiatives are expected to save almost half a million lives, create thousands of jobs, and benefit millions of poor people across Africa and Asia.

Power of business to reduce global poverty

Mr Brown argued that it is the absence of big corporations in developing countries that "blights the lives" of poor people. The PM said that the private sector is of "critical importance" in focussing attention on enterprise, on free and fair trade and open markets and that the MDG targets of reducing infant mortality and providing primary education will only be met with "an extraordinary effort".

He also said that companies can use innovation, specialist skills and technology to deliver solutions in a way that governments cannot.

Long-term business initiatives

At the meeting, more than a dozen global companies have announced projects that showcase long-term business initiatives centred on developing countries. They include a project to deliver financial services via mobile phones so that millions of people have access to basic bank accounts for the first time.

This follows a meeting at the UN in July 2007, when the PM made a Call to Action to governments, businesses, NGOs and faith groups to focus resources and effort on delivering the MDGs by 2015.

View the full PMs speech  

If you would like to view PM Gordon Brown's 6 May speech in full, go to the Downing Street website »