(MENAFN- Gulf Times) United Nations high representative for Alliance of Civilisations Dr Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser has urged the private sector to invest in other areas such as education, health, and the youth to increase financial profits.
"When businesses value their impact through a strong culture of corporate social responsibility, they contribute to the country's economic development while improving the quality of life of society," al-Nasser said during a forum organised by Doha Bank and Global Citizen Forum (GCF) at the Four Season's Hotel here on Wednesday.
Entitled "Economic Integration Towards A Borderless World," al-Nasser was joined by a panel of speakers led by Doha Bank Group CEO Dr R Seetharaman, Indian Ambassador Sajiv Arora, Dr Mehran Kamrava of the Centre for International and Regional Studies at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Doha, Universal Peace Federation president Dr Thomas Walsh, and Preeti Malhotra of Smart Global.
Also, al-Nasser officially launched his book "A year at the helm of the United Nations General Assembly" by giving the first copy to Doha Bank managing director Sheikh Abdul Rehman bin Mohamed bin Jabor al-Thani.
In his opening keynote address, Dr Seetharaman noted that the world is full of opportunities "if we recognise that it is borderless."
"We have challenges of food security as the global population is expected to grow in future. Gender equality, child healthcare, and education are also areas which require attention. Taking into the current situation the global citizenship is the solution," he said.
Malhotra, for her part, emphasised the need for governments "to toe a delicate line" between protecting markets and creating a lucrative business environment.
"The path to true economic integration lies in benchmarking best practices in business and social governance and analysing and implementing these practices across the globe to create a common economic code and a common socio-legal standard," she added.
Meanwhile, Arora noted the challenges many countries face in fighting terrorism: "Terrorism is, undoubtedly, the modern world's greatest challenge. We have to constantly intensify our domestic national efforts as also take concerted measures to substantially strengthen international co-operation to fight the scourge of terrorism. There cannot be selective approaches to terrorism."
In relation, Kamrava emphasised that the dynamics of globalisation are both "empowering and disempowering."
"Globalisation has enabled us to have immediate access to developments across the world and has enabled the transmission across cultures of different values that have become universal. Yet, at the same time, globalisation has resulted in the erosion of values, in the erosion of cultures, and has created individuals who have unstable identities, who feel terribly conflicted within themselves. And, as a result, we see the tremendous outbursts of violence across the world," he said.
"The challenges that need to be addressed and overcome as we venture toward a borderless world are complex and involve matters not only of trade and commerce but politics, ethnicity, religion, culture and ethics," said Walsh, who concluded the event.
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