Arab Region’s leading forum on CSR and Sustainability to be held in the UAE

The prestigious annual Arabia CSR Forum will be held this month even as the world ingests the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals. The role of business in achieving the SDGs is no longer in question; governments across the world that met in New York last month have unequivocally identified business as a partner in sustainable development.

The Forum will work with this assumption, highlighting the fact that business needs to create sustainable economic models that promote societal development and ecological health. Themed “Beyond Responsibility: Towards Transformational Sustainability”,  it is supported at the highest level by the League of Arab States, the UN Global Compact, and the United Nations Environment Programme. The engagement of these leading bodies ensures that the event will focus on some of the most important issues of the day, such as sustainable growth strategies, new economic models, sustainable industrialization through sustainable consumption and production, social enterprise, youth empowerment, sustainable technologies and innovation. These topics will mirror some of the focus areas of the SDGs, and will shed light on current thinking and best practices.

The forum will focus on regional cases, experiences and scenarios with a view to proliferating sustainability practices among businesses in Arab countries. The objective will be to maximize dialogue and exchange and increase the level of understanding of issues that are critical to the future of humanity and the planet. Said Habiba Al Marashi, president of the Arabia CSR Network, “The Forum aims to bridge the gap in knowledge and execution of CSR and Sustainability and promote a culture change among businesses in the Region. It will be a reflection of the spirit of the SDGs and we hope it will provide an impetus to business to fall in line with global priorities of growth and development.” Sponsors of the forum are, Ma’aaden, (Exclusive Strategic Sponsor), Petrochemical Industries Company (Platinum Sponsor), ENOC, NATPET and Gulf Petrochemical Industrial Company (Gold Sponsors), Diamond Developers (Industry Sponsor), RasGas (publications Sponsor) and Canon Middle East (Imaging Sponsor). Emirates Environmental Group is the Environmental Partner, DNV-GL its assurance provider, and MBC Group its Strategic Media Partner. Other Media Partners are Arabian Business, News Services Group Middle East ME Newswire, Gulf News, Omnicom Media Group, 7DAYS, Eye of Riyadh and Blu Lowe Kuwait. The Forum is being planned as a climate neutral event.