Leave a legacy in Africa, business meeting decides

Paris, 18 October 2001 - The key outcomes of the inaugural Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD) meeting have been posted on the internet, with a call for business to leave a lasting legacy in Africa.

The summary notes the agreement among participants to use next year's World Summit in Johannesburg as the catalyst for business to create sustainable development projects in Africa which will have a "real and lasting benefit for the people of the African continent".

The report says there was much discussion at the Paris meeting about the most appropriate way for business to demonstrate its commitment to sustainable development.

It was finally agreed that implementing grass-roots sustainable development projects in the most needy communities in Africa would be the best legacy business could leave after the Summit.

"The most appropriate business input into the Summit is through the support for 'legacy' projects that would form a lasting memorial to the summit," the report says. "Business could be the partner in many urban renewal, agricultural, health, water, energy and other projects in Johannesburg, South Africa and across Africa as a whole."

Click here for the meeting summary. A more comprehensive meeting report will follow shortly.

More than 140 business leaders gathered at ICC headquarters in Paris last week under the banner of BASD to meet with United Nations officials and discuss business preparations for next year's World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.