Kyiv, 17 April, 2007 Multi-stakeholder discussion on «Corporate Social Responsibility: from charity towards sustainable development» was conducted on Tuesday, 17 April, 2007 in Kyiv.

The discussion was organized on the initiative of the GC network Ukraine members with the support of United Nations Global Compact team in Ukraine. The main objective of the discussion was to initiate a substantial dialogue between the main CSR players in Ukraine on the difference between charity and CSR and the external and internal reasons for businesses to emphasize predominantly on charity.

The forum has been made possible thanks to the financial support kindly provided by Volia, Group of Companies, Global Compact member.

A key-note speaker of the forum was Mr. Christian Thommessen, Director of the Private Sector Division, United Nations Development Programme, Headquarters, New York. anelists of the discussion were Mr. Oleg Opimakh, State Committee for Regulatory Policy and Entrepreneurship, Ms. Viktoriya Ruban, Ukrainian Mobile Communications, Ms. Nina Solomatina, Federation of Trade Unions Ms. Yuliya Begma, Center for Corporate Citizenship, Mr. Petro Kalyta, Ukrainian Association for Quality.

The event gathered around 45 Global Compact members in Ukraine representing business, Government, Federation of Trade Unions, employers' associations, NGOs and media. The topic of the forum proved to be of high interest to the participants and encouraged vital discussion and constructive dialogue among the multi-stakeholders. As a result participants together with UN GC Team agreed on holding a series of discussions, covering most appealing topics or issues in connection to CSR and experience/knowledge exchange.

More information about Global Compact in Ukraine at http://www.un.org.ua/?p=gc