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ALCAN SUPPORTS GHANA’S EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE NEW DEVELOPMENT GOALS
“Alcan’s commitment to the UNGC reinforces its efforts to address sustainable development objectives in the countries in which it operates. As such, the Company is fully committed to enhancing its more than sixty-year relationship with the Ghanaian Government and people by supporting the Millennium Development Goals,” said Richard B. Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer, Alcan Inc. “Alcan recognizes the strategic importance of the environment, particularly water, as well as health and education. It is in these areas, that Alcan will support efforts to promote development in the Bibiani Anhwiaso Bekwai District,” he added. In addition to the US$300,000, collaboration, Alcan will maintain its annual contribution of US$430,000 towards the Company-owned-and-operated hospital, which serves more than 10,000 people in the Bibiani Anhwiaso Bekwai District. Among numerous initiatives, Alcan will be supporting Ghana’s Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment and the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing in collaboration with the World Bank, Agence française de développement, the European Union and SNV (the Netherlands Development Organisation) in providing sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. This tangible action will support the Government in ensuring environmental sustainability by halving the proportion of people without access to these basic needs. In collaboration with the above-noted partners and others, Alcan will additionally identify actions to support the Government in addressing universal primary education, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. “Business is of vital importance to the MDGs. Reducing poverty builds healthy and dynamic workforces. It creates purchasing power, boosts productivity and eases social tensions,” said Kofi A. Annan, United Nations Secretary-General. Mr. Annan, who is from Ghana, continued to say that, “The sense of what business can do for others, and what it must do for itself, is at the heart of the UNGC,” which he launched six years ago and Alcan signed onto in early 2003. “Business generates employment and wealth. Its tremendous human, technical and organizational capacity has direct application in virtually all realms of development. This capacity is every bit as important as capital,” he added. The eight MDGs were drawn from the Millennium Declaration, which was endorsed by all Member States of the United Nations. The MDGs, which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, must be achieved by a 2015 target. They form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and leading development institutions and have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest regions. The UNGC is an international initiative, bringing together companies with UN agencies, labor and civil society to support universal environmental and social principles. Today, many hundreds of companies from all regions of the world, international labor and civil society organizations are engaged in the UNGC, working to advance ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption.
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