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Sir
Philip Watts
Chairman |
Last
year, I wrote in our Annual Report of the
effects of September 11. As I write today,
the legacy of the attack on the World Trade
Centre is still with us. The future remains
unclear and there has consequently been an
inevitable loss of confidence in the world’s
stock markets. We have felt the effects of
this at ICC United Kingdom and I am sorry
to report a loss at our year-end for the first
time in many years. The reason for this can
be attributed to a continuing slow down in
publications sales, partly due to the absence
of a new big seller, which we usually have
every five years or so. The net result is
a loss for us, which needs to be recovered
if we are to be able to do the necessary work
on your behalf. In the short term, this means
a rise in subscriptions slightly higher than
the rate of inflation, but we are also hopeful
that two new publications in 2003 will help
to reverse last year’s falling sales
trend.
The main focus for us last year was the Johannesburg
Summit, the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
This meeting, held in August/September, was
judged by some to have failed, but such a
judgement is wide of the mark. Many agreements
that had been made earlier were formalised
and the business community was, for the first
time, a real participant. This was the result
of a collaboration between ICC and the World
Business Council for Sustainable Development
(WBCSD), which I also chair. This partnership,
which was called Business Action for Sustainable
Development, was entirely successful and superbly
led by Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, ably supported
by Lord Holme of Cheltenham who, at the time,
chaired the ICC Environment & Energy Commission.
Their leadership resulted in the international
business community taking a real part and
not, in Richard Holme’s words, “putting
our noses up against the window, looking in
from the cold outside”. The ICC Chairmanship
honoured Lord Holme last year for his work
by giving him the inaugural ICC Award for
Merit, which was presented by Dick McCormick
at the ICC World Council Meeting in November.
Foremost among ICC’s priorities in 2003
will be the Doha Trade Round as it enters
a critical phase. Most ICC Policy Commissions
- grouping business experts on all issues
relevant to international business - are involved
in formulating business views and recommendations
for the trade negotiators in Geneva. In addition,
ICC rule-making, a fundamental ICC contribution
to world business, will continue apace in
2003, with new model contracts being issued
and the introduction of standards of banking
practice to guide the application of ICC rules
governing letters of credit. I look forward
to ICC United Kingdom participating fully
in all these activities.
Our policy work has developed well over the
year. We have created several new Committees
so that we now mirror the work of all the
Commissions in Paris. Once again, I would
like to thank all our Committee Chairmen for
the work they do on our behalf.
Our seminar programme went well last year,
with several based around our rules for documentary
credits. I would especially like to thank
John Turnbull for chairing these and our Annual
Banking Seminar, which continues to draw the
largest number of attendees. In addition to
seminars on the banking theme, we also included
a new topic last year, namely Anti-Corruption,
and were so encouraged that we are to repeat
it this year.
To try to widen our means of income we are
further developing our handbook and website.
To support the Guidelines on Corporate Social
Responsibility, launched by ICC at its Denver
Congress last May, we are producing a booklet
highlighting CSR and giving companies the
chance to show what they are doing by recording
case histories. We hope that our lead may
be taken up elsewhere.
Lastly, I would to thank the staff at ICC
United Kingdom. We are particularly sorry
to have said goodbye to Caroline McGrath,
who has been our Policy Executive for eleven
years. Her husband has been posted, which
has meant that Caroline can no longer commute.
We all wish her well for the future.
Sir Philip Watts KCMG
Chairman |
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