Financial Times

Multinationals should be socially responsible

By Quintus Perera

A recent ADB study shows that corruption in Asia could cost up to one sixth of a country's GDP while governments pay between 20% to 100% more for goods and services due to corrupt procurement practices, says Lakshman Kadirgamar, former foreign minister and now advisor to President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Speaking on behalf of the president who could not attend an international conference organized by the Institute of Personnel Management (IPM) held in Colombo last week, Kadirgamar said corruption could result in scarce resources being squandered on uneconomical projects because of their potential to generate lucrative payoffs.

"Corruption is everywhere, but developing countries which could least afford to cope with the ill-effects of corruption suffer most," he said adding that corporate, professional, governmental and political ethics and moral values in every walk of life have sunk to low levels globally.

Kadirgamar said the scarcity of natural resources, natural disasters, over-population, corruption and bad governance; inadequate capital flows, trade barriers and unfair trade practices led to restricted international markets for developing countries. Debilitating poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition are products of the above. Developing countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia have people in abundance to constitute a reservoir of talent which if properly harnessed and utilized could change the quality of their lives.

He said that IPM Sri Lanka undertook projects related to the management of human resources with adherence to professional ethics, involvement in the

whole process of global governance and continuous training for the workforce which has a crucial relevance to the progress of a developing country.

Kadirgarmar urged those professionals interacting between government and business to evolve a culture of honesty and transparency in the commercial life of the country through proper conduct as individuals and as collective entities.

Ms Geok Choo, National President,Singapore Huamn Resource Institute delivered the keynote address while the welcome address was made by Janaka

Kumarasinghe, President, IMP. Ms J Whittaker, Director-Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, UK, David Ung, Executive Director, Singapore HR Institute and Partha Chatterjee, President, NIPM India were among a range of distinguished guests from Sri Lanka and abroad.

U A C Obeysekere, Deputy General Manager, Human Resources and

Administration, was awarded the HR Suntel Gold Medal.

Kadirgamar said global governance needed to incorporate human development for people for poverty reduction, equity and sustainability.

Global ethics and responsibility should be strengthened and global governance with shared values for life, liberty justice and equality.

He said the global code of conduct for multinational corporations must be developed. "Sales of some multinational corporations exceed the GDP of many countries.

They should be socially responsible from the beginning -- not only after getting caught neglecting their responsibilities.

The code should cover banks and financial institutions, covering secrecy and risk assessment," the former foreign minister noted.