United Nations Radio

Narrator: Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information at the United Nations, speaking recently to advertisers in Asia, said Asia is facing challenging times. The continent, he said, politically, socially and culturally diverse, is hard to characterize as a single entity.  Gerry Adams spoke to the Under-Secretary-General:

Kiyo Akasaka

Kiyo 1: It's not like Europe, which is the countries composing of this same sort of civilization and religious background. In Asia, yes there are indeed very many countries with different cultures and civilizations.

Narrator: And some of the values Asia has held dear in the past are coming into question:

Kiyo: There were some good elements like the respect for nature, the coordination between the government and the private sector and the respect to the elderly - those values are good ones I am sure that they are still applicable. But at the same time, the economic crisis of 1997 in Asia and the lost decade of Japan in the 1990s helped the people to think that those factors which were considered to be the successful factors for the economic growth in Asia being now the causes of this economic crisis.

Narrator: Under-Secretary-General Akasaka points to the Global Compact as being a good way for Asia, through its business community, to revive the values it holds important and to stimulate a rebirth in the Asian and the worldwide economy. He explains first what the Global Compact is:

Kiyo 3: Globally, seven thousand companies have signed up to this Global Compact of the United Nations. Global Compact encompasses four main areas. They are human rights, labour rights, environmental principles and anti-corruption. And the companies have committed themselves to those principles and I'm glad that the number of companies globally has been growing.

Narrator: Almost 20 per cent of the seven thousand Global Compact companies are from Asia. Mr. Akasaka says consumers are more likely to buy eco-friendly products, which will lead to sustainability and profitability in Asia:

Kiyo 4: We hope that Asian companies will embrace the universal and fundamental principles and rights so that their corporate social responsibility will be able to be manifested in their commitment to these principles and I am sure that that will help the Asian business community to be able to be more sustainable and sustainably profitable.  The consumers are demanding more of the multinational companies to comply with those international norms. 

Narrator: That was United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Kiyo Akasaka.

Producer: Gerry Adams
duration: 3'02"