Global Compact Network India (GCNI, the Indian arm of United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), is organizing its “10th National Convention” a flagship event on Saturday, February 14, 2015 at ITC Windsor, Bangalore. The event will be inaugurated by Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, DG & CEO, IICA, Ministry of Corporate Affairs. As the 10th convention opens it will be aimed at finding ways to turn the new sustainable development vision into reality for millions worldwide, the high profile officials and other senior officials will share approaches to connect the views of financing the ambitious global agenda.
Mr. Pooran Chandra Pandey, Executive Director, GCNI stated that, “we propose that 10th National Convention will see the outcome in broad areas of key findings on the issue of sustainability, sustainable development, goals through a shared vision, Networking among key stakeholders for discussions on a shared document agenda and create a platform for peer learning, setting up of a wider consultation with the United Nations, its systems and businesses on role of business in complementary UN goals and its take off in India & collective action among government, businesses and civil society to advance conditions for taking forward a consultative dialogue on development and growth”
Elaborating on the theme, G.S. Krishnan, Regional President, Novozymes South Asia stated that “this year the convention deliberations would address broad areas relating to infrastructure development, inclusive society and institutional transformational, and how progress on these areas can enable sustainable transformation for India, this is keeping in line with the set theme ‘Sustainable Transformation for India: 2015 and Beyond’. He further added that “It seeks to build upon the momentum gained due to the recent developments in India and facilitate a dialogue amongst influential stakeholders on India’s sustainability transformation journey.”
The convention will bring together key speakers who will emphasize a need for an inclusive agenda that would produce results, and with new technologies and partnerships, greater efficiency could lead the world towards that shared future.
The event will have 250 participants which includes many Industry Leaders, Government Representative and Civil Society Leaders. The main speakers and key dignitaries during the event would include Dinesh K Sarraf, Chairman & Managing Director, ONGC and President, GCNI and N.K.Nanda, Director – Technical, NMDC and Vice President (Southern Region) GCNI, Vishvesh Prabhakar, Managing Director, Accenture, Alexandra Wrage, President, Trace International, USA, Brig Rajiv Williams, Corporate Head-CSR, JSL and Member, Governing Council, Global Compact Network India, Ms. Miniya Chatterji, CSO, JSPL, Mr. Vinod Pandey, Head- Government Affairs, BMW Group India, Mr. Babu Rangaswamy, Director Sustainability, HP, Mr. Ashok Kumar Pavadia, Additional Secretary & Adviser, Inter-State Council Secretariat, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Mr. Rajiv Banga, MD & CEO, Mangalore Special Economic Zone India, to name a few.
With the new goals in place, India will need to adopt a robust approach to plan its 2015 and beyond sustainability agenda. As the country navigates through its sustainability journey, there are a number of enablers and challenges that need to be kept on the radar which can potentially accelerate / impede the transformation progress. The transformational process will have to include institutional, infrastructural and socially inclusive growth. The process will also need to be backed by collaboration, innovation, policies, and behavior change and community engagement.
UNGC primarily operates on four major realms – Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption, and are further dispersed into ten universally accepted principles adopted by diverse signatories across geographies, as value based approaches in achieving sustainable development. Over the years, with more than 12,000 participants including over 8000 businesses in 140 countries, as a network-based initiative, it has established 103 local networks across the world and operates with an internal yet diverse governance framework. UNGC has transformed into being one of the largest corporate citizenship and responsibility initiatives in the world and continues to inspire companies.
