A UN Global Compact Local Networks Regional Meeting for Eastern Europe & Central Asia was held in Sofia on 15 and 16 of April, at the Grand Hotel Sofia. The meeting was organized by the Global Compact (GC) Head Office, UN in New York and hosted by the Global Compact Network Bulgaria, with the financial support of companies-members of the GC Network Bulgaria Advisory Board – VM Finance Group, Overgas and TNT Bulgaria.

The meeting was officially open by Soren Petersen, Head, Global Compact Networks & Partnerships, GC Office, UN and by Vassil Mirchev, President of the Board of Directors of VM Finance Group and Chairman of Global Compact Network Bulgaria.

The 44 participants of the meeting were Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) experts from the GC Head Office, business representatives from the local networks, as well as GC Focal Points from the region (Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Russia and Ukraine).

Among other important topics, the forum discussed the forthcoming UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2010 to be held on 24-25 June 2010 in New York. The 2010 Summit will bring 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.

A special focus was put on the new international standards ISO 26 000 “Instructions for social responsibility”. The standards will be applied in all types of companies worldwide. The guidelines in ISO 26 000 highlight the best CSR practices that exist in the public and the private sectors. This lecture was delivered by Dagny Bühler Thierfelder, Deputy Chief Compliance Officer and Project Manager CSR and Sustainability, TÜV Rheinland, Germany.

The meeting discussed also  the relevance of the GC Principle on Anti-corruption to Business. The session will focus on the UN Global Compact’s 10th Principle on Anti-corruption and tried to answer the following questions: What does this mean for business? Why should business fight corruption? How can companies implement this principle in reality? Is there any business case to fight corruption? This was presented by Peter Wilkinson, Senior Advisor, Transparency International, UK.

The second day of the meeting was devoted to discussions and consultations on the first draft of the GC Toolkit on Network Management and the Guidance Note on Sustainability of GC networks.

The Global Compact is an UN international initiative aimed at promoting businesses’ social responsibility. The Global Compact unites on a voluntary basis more than 6000 companies, business associations, non-governmental organizations from 80 countries all over the world. In Bulgaria, the UN Global Compact was officially launched under the auspices of President Parvanov in January 2003. Today the UN Global Compact Networks Bulgaria brings together nearly 80 members committed to implement in their operations ten universal principles in the areas of environment, labor standards, human rights, and fight against corruption. The Global Compact aims to engage business in the fight against major social and ecological challenges which growing globalization entails.

All presentations and related materials of the meeting could be found here:

Agenda of the meeting

Annual Local Network Forum, June 2010

Business Call  for Action

UN GC Leaders Summit 2010

Principles for Responsible Social Investment

Strategic Community Investment

Global Compact Status, April 2010

Reporting Guidance on the 10th Principle against corruption (ppt)

Reporting Guidance on the 10th Principle against corruption

GC Annual Communication on Progress (template)

UN GC Communication on Progress Report, Accenture

Linkage Paper GC Principles-ISO26000

Practical Implementation of the UN GC 10th Principle

GC Local Network Sustainability

GCLN Toolkit

Regional CSR Project

For more information: Elena Panova, GC Netwok Bulgaria Focal Point, Tel:. 96 96 112, e-mail: elena.panova@undp.org.

More about the UN Global Compact Initiative and the Bulgarian Network on: www.unglobalcompact.org www.unglobalcompact.bg