Covid-19 Response & Recovery in the Framework of the 2030 Agenda

On 29 April at 15:00 (Central European Time) UN DESA, IOE, USCIB’s All In 2020 Campaign and the Business Partners for Sustainable Development are jointly organising a digital conference on Covid-19, SDG 17 and public/private partnerships.

This virtual dialogue continues the spirit of the Partnership Forum of the UN Economic and Social Council, engaging government, UN entities, business and other stakeholders on launching and expanding practical solutions. How can private and public sectors collaborate with and through the UN to tackle social and sustainable development challenges embodied in the UN 2030 Agenda, especially as they move ahead on urgent pandemic response and prepare for recovery?

Effective pandemic response and recovery alongside the Decade of Delivery and Action, relies on making “business as usual” obsolete for both the private sector and the international community. Inclusive multilateralism is needed now more than ever, including through animating shared value partnerships across governments, inter-governmental bodies, business and other stakeholders.

The virtual dialogue will feature presentations by representatives of governments and practitioners on multi-stakeholder partnerships in 3 areas:

1) demonstrating how diverse public and private sector actors are working together to suppress transmission to stop the pandemic and save lives;

2) practical steps and enabling frameworks to assist businesses, employers and workers -- including the informal sector -- to address social, economic and multidimensional impacts such as eventual job loss with focus on the local actors and work on the ground, especially vis a vis SMEs and in developing countries; and

3) building partnerships to accelerate the global response to Covid-19.

Agenda: 

Opening remarks

  • HE Ambassador Munir Akram, VicePresident of the UN Economic and Social Council and Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN (tbc)
  • Elliot Harris, Assistant SecretaryGeneral and Chief Economist, United Nations
  • Roberto Suarez Santos, Secretary General, International Organisation of Employers (IOE)

Moderator: Norine Kennedy, Vice President, United States Council for International Business

  1. Partnerships to Accelerate Global Research and Innovation: Presenting a proposal for a partnership to create a COVID-19 Incubation Lab that will scale up cooperation with WHO-sponsored solidarity trials, share data and information in the public interest, and deploy new AI tools to accelerate solutions to the COVID-19 crisis.
    • Dr. Scott Ratzan, Executive Director, Business Partners for Sustainable Development (BPSD)
    • Charles Randolph, Head of Global Health, Global Challenges Division, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
  2. Partnerships to Support and Build Capacity for MSMEs: How employees and local governments are cooperating to keep MSMEs, workers, and households afloat, strengthening capability to weather the pandemic and rebuild better
    • Mthunzi Mdwaba, IOE VicePresident to ILO, Productivity South Africa Chairman
    • Nguyen Chanh Phuong, Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCMC
  3. Partnerships to curb the pandemic: Practical joint efforts that deliver on the ground solutions to suppress COVID19 transmission and save lives
    • Zahid Torres-Rahman, Executive Director, Business Fights Poverty (tbc)
    • Myriam Sidibe, Harvard Fellow
    • Justin Perrettson, Novozymes

Q&A

Concluding remarks

  • Renate HornungDraus, IOE Regional Vice-President for Europe and Central Asia, and Managing Director, European and International Affairs, Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA)

Register here.

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