Main Sponsor :

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South Asia

CONFERENCE FOLLOW-UP

GLOBAL SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY CONFERENCE OF GERMAN BUSINESSES IN BANGLADESH

Background Since independence, Bangladesh’s economy has been growing rapidly and steadily, especially during the last few years. The country offers wide opportunities as a producer, and it is also turning into a fast-growing consumer market, becoming an important international commercial and production partner.

Bilateral trade with Germany has enjoyed a double-digit growth in recent years, and remarkably, during the global recession in 2009, German exports to Bangladesh remained steady whilst trade with all other partners slowed down.

Yet whilst the economy and international trade are growing steadily, Bangladesh still faces numerous development challenges. These include low adult literacy rates, high rates of rural and urban poverty, limited provision of services, weak governance, insufficient energy supply and the impacts of climate change.

German businesses acknowledge these challenges and their responsibilities in assisting Bangladesh to address them. It is common knowledge that socially responsible business practices benefit both German businesses and the people of Bangladesh.

This conference provides successful entrepreneurs the opportunity to share best practices and lessons learned and develop business strategies based on:

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a form of voluntary corporate self-regulation integrated into a company's business model; and,

Social Business* as an innovative and responsible way to target opportunities neglected by traditional business plans, which provides goods and services that comply with social and environmental challenges.*Social business has been developed and promoted in Bangladesh by Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus

The GSR Conference

On October, 28th 2010 the conference on Global Social Responsibility (GSR) of German businesses was held at Radisson Water Garden in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The conference was organized by the Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BGCCI) - the biggest bilateral European chamber - and supported by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dhaka and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH.

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Attending the conference were a number of leading German companies like TÜV SÜD AG, HEIDELBERG CEMENT Ltd., METRO GROUP, BASF SE, PICARD Ltd., OTTO GmbH & Co. KG & DEG.

More than 300 business leaders from Germany and Bangladesh participated the conference. The interest form the media was enormous. More than 100 media representatives were present.

The conference started on time at 10 am with the opening speech of H.E. Holger Michael - Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Saiful Islam - President of the Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BGCCI) and Business Man of the Year - stated:

Dr.-Ing. Axel Stepken - CEO TÜV SÜD AG welcomed the audience as main sponsor of the GSR event and delivered a very interesting speech on CSR and lessons learned.

Prof. Dr. Mohammad Yunus - Nobel Peace Price Winner described in his speech different ways how to approach Social Business.

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"Corporate Social Responsibility is a key element of the German social market economy as well as for Germany's value-oriented foreign policy.”

“It has been proven that CSR pays off.”

“TÜV SÜD AG is proud to sponsor this special event.”

“There are two kinds of business: one is for making profit, while the other is social business meant to solve social problems.”

After the Tea Break sponsored by BASF the conference moved on to a panel discussion on Social Business moderated by Mahfuz Anam - The Daily Star Editor. The Honourable Minister of Commerce, Mr. Faruk Khan expressed: “In Bangladesh and within the existing capacity, companies are trying to look at social responsibility issues. The Government of Bangladesh offers TAX deductions for CSR activities”. Prof. Dr. Mohammad Yunus said at the business panel: “Everybody can open a social business. Social business just needs creativity to ensure that problems are solved”. Dr. Michael Otto explained that: “Invention of social business is an important step towards the future, in order to reduce poverty”. Saori Dubourg – President, BASF SE Asia Pacific stated: “Social business can help reach out to the people to improve the quality of their lives.” Mahfuz Anam added: “We continue to say that Bangladesh is a poor country. Can we not stop saying that? We should call us a developing country.” The audience was included and could ask the panellists questions, which lead to a very interesting discussion on the pros and cons of the concept of Social Business.

Anton Knijf - Vice President International Affairs METRO Group delivered a speech on the CSR activities of METRO Group and invited to lunch, sponsored by Metro Group. The afternoon CSR session was opened by Rodney Reed - Managing Director from Reed Consulting Bd. Ltd. He showed theoretical and practical knowledge about CSR in Bangladesh.

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) panel was moderated by Helmut Hauschild - Bureau Chief South and Southeast Asia Office HANDELSBLATT, Germany’s Business and Financial Daily -. The panel discussants were Dr.-Ing. Axel Stepken - CEO TÜV SÜD AG, Michael Schürmann - EM & CEO SIEMENS Bd. Ltd., Anton Knijf - Vice President International Affairs METRO Group, Saiful Islam - Managing Director PICARD Bd. Ltd., Jean-Claude Jamar - Managing Director HEIDELBERGCEMENT Bd. Ltd., Karl Borgschulze - CSR Textile Editor in

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Chief & Consultant, Holger Rothenbusch - Senior Vice President Finance DEG and Faroque Hassan - Vice President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

Also at this CSR panel the audience could ask questions which lead to an open and also controversial discussion on CSR and compliance.

Dr. Dietrich Stotz - Program Coordinator Promotion of Social, Environmental and Production Standards in the RMG Sector, GTZ - introduced in his speech a new book: “A CSR for Entrepreneurs and Factory Managers.”

The closing speech of the conference was delivered by Saria Sadique - Senior Vice President of the Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BGCCI). He expressed:

“We are very hopeful that this forum will act as a catalyst for the CSR activities from the German Companies. BGCCI can be a platform for knowledge sharing, and identifying potential areas thus facilitating the maximum utilization of the resources. Together we can truly make a difference in the lives of the millions of Bangladeshis”.

Finally Saria Sadique called Dr. Michael Otto - Chairman Otto GmbH & Co. KG and Dipl.-Ök. Daniel Seidl - Executive Director of the Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BGCCI) on stage. Mr. Seidl welcomed Dr. Otto for being BGCCI member No. 200! Finally Mr. Sadique requested Mr. Seidl - BGCCI Executive Director and CIM / GTZ expert – to get up and receive applause for his commitment organizing the conference.

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TÜV SÜD laboratory inauguration

After the conference TÜV SÜD ASIA inaugurated a high end laboratory in Dhaka with grand opening speeches by Dr.-Ing. Axel Stepken - CEO TÜV SÜD AG, H.E. Holger Michael - Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany and by Saiful Islam - President of the Leather and Footwear Exporters Association Bangladesh.

The conference ended with a Pool-side Barbecue Dinner at Radisson with German Chef K.U. Klenz arranging interactive cooking stations. This program was hosted and sponsored by TÜV SÜD where Ishan Palit – CEO, TÜV SÜD Asia Pacific welcomed all guest and stated that this conference was a full success.

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In the following you will find some pictures impressions form the GSR conference:

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Pre - Program GSR Conference October 27th 2010

Visit to METRO GROUP CSR PROJECT - CHILD DAY CARE CENTER, NARAYANGANJ:

In August 2010, METRO GROUP has opened a Child Day Care Centre “Sunnyside” in Narayanganj that offers garments workers the opportunity to earn their livelihoods and to have a family at the same time. This project is part of the ongoing efforts of Metro Group to increase social standards. Local journalists and delegates went to this one day long visit. “We want to set up a show case for an outstanding Child Day Care Center in order to encourage other players in the sector to take over responsibility as well”, expresses Anton Knijf, Vice President International Affairs, METRO Group.

Visit to the RUG-PROJECT (KIK GERMANY & CARE Bd. - GOLD STANDARD AWARD, 2009), RANGPUR

The pre-program consisted in a visit to the Rug Project in Rangpur in northern Bangladesh which has been awarded by Public Affairs Asia with the Gold Standard Award in the category of sustainability. “The creation of jobs in an extremely weak social infrastructure in the north of Bangladesh and the provision of good working conditions and ultimately a sustainable business model that has already proven itself are excellent. During my visit to Rangpur, the 1.000.000 rug was made – Congratulations!” (Dipl.-Ök. Daniel Seidl, Executive Director BGCCI)

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Media

PRESS RELEASEDhaka, October 28, 2010

More than 300 business leaders from Germany and Bangladesh discussed strategies and best practices for companies to address social and environmental challenges at a conference on "Global Social Responsibility” in Dhaka today. The conference was organized by the biggest bilateral chamber of commerce, the Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BGCCI) and supported by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH.

During the conference and noting that the presence of top business leaders is a strong testimonial for the commitment to advance social and environmental values in business, German Ambassador Holger Michael highlighted that Bangladesh matters for Germany. He said: "Corporate Social Responsibility is a key element of the German social market economy as well as for Germany's value-oriented foreign policy.” And he added: "We encourage governments, social investors and CSR-conscious companies to work together in the struggle for public health, access to education and in the fight against poverty.”

The Ambassador Michael pointed out that foreign investment, technol-ogy and social standards including social responsible business will also help Bangladesh to meet its goal to become a middle income country, referring to this he said: “Progress and development cannot be achieved by ignoring recipes for success and by locking foreign invest-ment away in EPZs."

The German Government supports the promotion of internationally recognized productivity, social and environmental standards in Bangla-desh in the ready-made garments sector through “PROGRESS”, a project implemented by the Ministry of Commerce and GTZ within the framework of the bilateral cooperation program.

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Mr Saiful Islam, President of BGCCI, expressed during his speech that the inclusion of social and environmental issues is an important dimension of business strategies to produce economic results which contribute at the same time to the overall sustainable development of a country. Referring to the German experience, he added that “It has been proven that CSR pays off”.

The conference moved on to a panel discussion on Social Business where the honourable Minister of Commerce, Mr. Faruk Khan expressed “In Bangladesh and within the existing capacity, companies are trying to look at social responsibility issues”, highlighting that the Government of Bangladesh has incentives for those companies who undertake CSR activities. Nobel Prize Laureate Prof. Dr. Yunus, Mrs. Saori Dubourg, President of BASF Asia Pacific, as well as Dr. Michael Otto, Chairman of Otto GmbH & Co and who has been awarded as the member No. 200 of BGCCI, participated in the discussion as well. This panel was moderated by Dr. Mahfuz Anam, editor of the Daily Star.

Attending the conference were a number of leading German companies like TüV SüD, HEIDELBERG CEMENT A.G, METRO GROUP, BASF, OTTO GmbH as well as important Bangladesh businesses such as PICARD, Marine Shipyard and others.The conference made clear that the private sector commitment and role is not exclusively to contribute to the economic growth of Bangladesh, but to achieve responsibly economic results, while including social and environmental issues in the business strategies at the same time, so that overall sustainable development is achieved.

The PRESS CONFERNCE was fully booked.

Media Clippings

The media coverage was outstanding. The conference was aired on all television news channels on peak hours and here you will find some clippings:

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Further questions:

Dipl.- Oec. Daniel SeidlExecutive DirectorBangladesh German Chamber of Commerce & Industry

German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) BuildingRoad # 90, House # 10/CGulshan 2, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh

Tel.: +88 (02) 8826480Fax: +88 (02) 8824858Email: daniel.seidl@bgcci.comHomepage: www.bgcci.com and www.cimonline.de/

The Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BGCCI) in cooperation with the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dhaka and the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH would like to express our thanks to all the speakers, participants, the media and our sponsors:

Centre for InternationalMigration and development

a joint operation of GTZ and the

German Federal Placement Agency