This Monday, on the 14th of May, ICC Albania with the support of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Albania organized the Corporate Integrity Forum. This forum brought together local and international leaders from business, government and civil society. It offered a platform to discuss multi-stakeholder collaboration as a model to create more impact on responsible business conduct.
The Corporate Integrity Forum also launched a new initiative from ICC Albania and supported by the embassy ‘The Anti-Corruption Business Coalition.’ The coalition aims to increase dialogue between the private sector, government and civil society and advocates to translate integrity policies into concrete actions.
Chairman of ICC Albania, Mr. Genc Boga, highlighted at his opening remarks the importance of corporate integrity for building trust and goodwill.
“An open debate and cooperation among private sector and the public sector actors focusing corporate integrity will certainly benefit to a better business climate and to attracting foreign investments,” Mr. Boga said.
The forum featured a video message by Mr. Roel Nieuwenkamp, Chair of the OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct, who highlighted the advantages of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises in attracting foreign investments and the relevance for countries such as Albania.
The panel discussion provided diverse insights by the speakers.
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Dewi van de Weerd, who moderated the panel discussion, underlined the need for more accountability and transparency initiatives in the country.
Panelists of this forum included Mr. Eduard Shalsi, Chair of the Production, Trade and Environment Parliamentary Committee, who elaborated on the legal initiatives being taken with respect to enabling an ethic’s regime, and the Country Head of Statkraft in Albania, Mr. Tom Kristian Larsen, who brought into discussion issues regarding building corporate integrity systems in terms of addressing corruption risk. Deputy Minister Mr. Elton Haxhi and Mr. Olindo Shehu, Partner at Deloitte Albania and Kosova, contributed to the panel as well, addressing respectively gaining public trust through integrity issues and the role of educating the youth for integrity activities.
The forum was also addressed by John Morrison, Executive Director of the Institute for Human Rights and Business. He stressed the need to analyse the risks when doing business and subsequently protect, respect and remedy, making use of international standards. Mrs. Marijke Wolfs, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands was present to share her experience on anti-corruption collective actions in the Netherlands.