On the afternoon of July 19, 2012 Prof. Liu Baocheng, Director of the Center of International Business Ethics (CIBE) attended the Project Appraisal Committee Meeting on Capacity Building and Promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility of Chinese Enterprises for South-South Cooperation hosted by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project was initiated by UNDP, the China International Centre for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE) under the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) of the People's Republic of China, and the Beijing Rongzhi CSR Research Institute. The program aims to assist Chinese enterprises fulfill their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and enhance their capacity to share CSR knowledge and experiences with enterprises in other developing countries. Acting under the framework of South-South Cooperation (SSC), the project seeks to promote the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and global sustainable development. About 20 delegates attended the meeting. They were from state-owned enterprises, private enterprises and academic institutions such as Ministry of human Resources and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China, State Grid Corporation of China, Lenovo, CIBE and so on.

 

Dr. Xiaoguang Wang, Vice Director of Beijing Rongzhi CSR Research Institute, gave a brief introduction to the project. Then the participants discussed the feasibility and operability of the project. The participants reached an agreement that strengthening South-South Cooperation and promoting CSR practices in China and other developing countries is of far-reaching significance. Prof. Liu pointed out that the implementation of CSR practices should be based on the principles of “no harm” and “distinguished altruism” due to the differences in development among countries. Instead, developing countries should set up an objective, fair, simple and quantitative evaluation system according to the characters of different sectors and distinguish the liability and responsibility of enterprises, in order to actually carry out CSR projects. Other participants also pointed out that to achieve the sustainable development of the project, we should enhance the project’s operative level and use special designs for enterprises going overseas.

 

After a heated discussion, participants put forward pertinent suggestions for the project. At the end of the meeting, Mr. Carsten Germer, Team Leader of Energy & Environment Team of UNDP, announced that the project Capacity Building and Promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility of Chinese Enterprises under the frame of South-South Cooperation is formally approved.