During a meeting at UN headquarters yesterday, ICC Secretary General Guy Sebban and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon agreed that cooperation between business and the UN should be intensified.

The meeting followed Mr Ban’s recent public assertion that the UN and business need each other, if they are to achieve their respective goals.

During the meeting, Mr Ban stressed the importance he attached to continuing cooperation and close working relationships with ICC. He told Mr Sebban that the network of business organizations and chambers of commerce – in which ICC played a leading role – was an important constituency of the UN.

“ICC is a truly global business organization covering all sectors of commercial activity,” said Mr Sebban. “In cooperation with the UN, we can make an effective contribution to the resolution of priority issues such as follow-up to the World Summit on the Information Society, corporate responsibility through the Global Compact, protection of intellectual property rights, and environment and energy issues – in particular climate change.”

Mr Sebban underscored the importance of a successful conclusion of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations and reminded Mr Ban that ICC was established in 1919 to promote international trade and foreign investment flows, objectives which are still valid in today's global economy.