Leaders sign key roadmap for stakeholder capitalism

MANAMA: Khalid Humaidan, the chief executive of the Economic Development Board, has joined leaders from government, business and civil society in signing a unique roadmap for stakeholder capitalism.

Signatories are members of the World Economic Forum’s Regional Action Group on the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), which the forum created in April 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Top-level members of government, business and civil society convene monthly during virtual meetings with the aim of developing action-oriented initiatives and projects that strengthen the region’s resilience for the post-Covid-19 era.

Driven by their conviction that companies and governments need to have a larger societal role, the signatories believe that the shared vision and language – agreed upon in the Principles of Stakeholder Capitalism – will serve as a guiding framework to steer collaboration.

The regional action group will offer a platform for projects and initiatives that emerge from these principles, with the aim of scaling them up and replicating them throughout the region.

The principles have been released ahead of the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Summit starting next Monday, which aims to scale up solutions to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of our time.

“The World Economic Forum’s Regional Action Group for the Middle East and North Africa reflects the engagement of the region, not only in responding to global challenges, but in proactively contributing to shaping the right vision for the future,” said Saudi Arabia’s Finance, Economy and Planning Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan.

A similar view was expressed by UAE Economy Minister Abdulla Bin Touq who said: “The Regional Action Group is one of the most important multilateral and regionally focused platforms where policy-makers and private-sector decision-makers can come together to share their views, allowing them to push some of the major regional priorities into the domain of actionable projects.”

Mirek Dusek, member of the executive committee at the World Economic Forum, said, “The principles constitute a milestone for the region in preparing for its future. They crucially provide a framework for promoting environmental sustainability, as they are designed to support regional decision-makers in shaping social and economic policies, thereby mitigating potential future climate-related disruptions and putting the region on a path of sustainable, equitable, and inclusive growth.”

Source: http://www.gdnonline.com/Details/872383/Leaders-sign-key-roadmap-for-stakeholder-capitalism