industrial reform

CACCI Policy Advocacy webinar on ESG in South-East Asia and Green-Digital Transformation

CACCI invites you to participate in the CACCI Policy Advocacy webinar to be held on Wednesday, December 14at 3:00PM Taipei Time. The 50-minute session will be moderated by Mangesh Lal Shrestha, YEGAP President.

The two relevant policy issues to be discussed are:

(1) ESG in South-East Asia: Policy Considerations for Improving Performance Across Sustainability and Social Parameters in the EV and Textile Industries by Mr. Arjun Goswani, Director, Public Policy, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

(2) How to Adjust to the Green-Digital Transformation: A Primer for CACCI by Prof. Dr. Güven Sak, Economic Policy Research of Turkey (TEPAV)

The two Executive Summaries can be downloaded HERE for your perusal. The two presentations will be followed by Q&A section. The session will conclude with Mr. Mangesh Lal Shrestha’s Closing Remarks. Your participation is free of charge. Moreover, we encourage you to share this invitation with your colleagues.

Please register HERE.

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you at the webinar.

Sincerely yours,

David Hsu

Director-General, Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development/NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development/Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the chair at susanneseperson@gmail.com. 

CACCI Policy Advocacy webinar on ESG in South-East Asia and Green-Digital Transformation

CACCI invites you to participate in the CACCI Policy Advocacy webinar to be held on Wednesday, December 14at 3:00PM Taipei Time. The 50-minute session will be moderated by Mangesh Lal Shrestha, YEGAP President.

The two relevant policy issues to be discussed are:

(1) ESG in South-East Asia: Policy Considerations for Improving Performance Across Sustainability and Social Parameters in the EV and Textile Industries by Mr. Arjun Goswani, Director, Public Policy, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

(2) How to Adjust to the Green-Digital Transformation: A Primer for CACCI by Prof. Dr. Güven Sak, Economic Policy Research of Turkey (TEPAV)

The two Executive Summaries can be downloaded HERE for your perusal. The two presentations will be followed by Q&A section. The session will conclude with Mr. Mangesh Lal Shrestha’s Closing Remarks. Your participation is free of charge. Moreover, we encourage you to share this invitation with your colleagues.

Please register HERE.

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you at the webinar.

Sincerely yours,

David Hsu

Director-General, Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development/NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development/Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the chair at susanneseperson@gmail.com. 

Civil Society FfD List Sign-on Letter: Implementation of UN Resolution on International Tax Cooperation

Photo: https://csoforffd.org/

We invite you all to sign on to the letter, and the deadline for doing so is Friday 16 December 2022. You can find the letter here and the form to sign on is here

__________

To the kind attention of:

Permanent Representatives and Permanent Observers to the United Nations in New York

United Nations Secretariat, Agencies and Programmes

 

X December 2022

 

Subject: Implementation of UNGA Second Committee resolution on promotion of inclusive and effective international tax cooperation at the United Nations (A/C.2/77/L.11/Rev.1)

 

Your Excellencies distinguished representatives of UN Member States,

 

We, the undersigned civil society organisations and trade unions, strongly support and welcome the UNGA resolution on promotion of inclusive and effective international tax cooperation at the UN (A/C.2/77/L.11/Rev.1). We commend the Africa Group for its excellent leadership on this issue and for finally ensuring implementation of the long-standing demand of developing countries for a UN intergovernmental negotiation process on international tax. We urge all UN Member States to maintain and reinforce the spirit of international cooperation that resulted in the adoption by consensus of this historic resolution. 

 

Furthermore, we are writing to you with a call for all governments to work constructively towards the urgent and efficient implementation of the resolution. This includes: 

 

  1. Supporting a speedy approval in the UNGA Fifth Committee of the required budget allocation for the implementation of the resolution, in line with the related Programme budget implications analysis (A/C.2/77/L.75). The budget requirement, totaling US$ 432,700, was presented to Member States ahead of the adoption of the resolution. We now count on all UN Member States to stand by the consensus agreement reached with the resolution and confirm the allocation of the required resources. We also urge all UN Member States to keep in mind that international tax cooperation is urgently needed, not least to combat tax-related illicit financial flows, which are costing governments hundreds of billions of dollars in lost tax income every year. This must therefore be a matter of high importance and urgency.

 

  1. Supporting strong stakeholder involvement in the consultation process related to the UN Secretary General’s report as mandated by the resolution. We strongly welcome the fact that stakeholder consultation is explicitly included in the text of the resolution, and we stand ready to make our contributions. We, the undersigned civil society organisations and trade unions, bring in-depth knowledge from all regions of the world about the devastating impacts of the failure of international tax cooperation, including the continued bleeding of public resources in the form of illicit financial flows. We also bring concrete and specific proposals for solutions, including for how a future UN Convention on Tax could be designed. 

 

  1. Supporting a strong intergovernmental UN process to strengthen international tax cooperation. Through the resolution, all UN Member States have agreed to “begin intergovernmental discussions in New York at United Nations Headquarters on ways to strengthen the inclusiveness and effectiveness of international tax cooperation”. We strongly welcome this vital initiative, and stress the importance of moving forward with urgency. As stated in the adopted resolution, combating illicit financial flows is an essential development challenge, and developing countries are particularly susceptible to the negative impact of illicit financial flows. Therefore, we believe that the modalities for the foreseen process must be adopted as a matter of high priority, and this should take place no later than the seventy-eighth session of the UN General Assembly. Furthermore, we would like to stress the importance of ensuring that the modalities provide for a transparent and inclusive member state-led negotiation process with full participation of stakeholders, including civil society. 

 

Despite the fact that international tax rules and standards affect all countries and people of the world, there has until this point been no inclusive international body where all countries were able to participate on an equal footing in the decision-making on international tax matters. This injustice is at the heart of the failure of the international tax system, which has continued to be characterised by injustice, inefficiency, incoherence, unilateral actions and beggar-thy-neighbor policies. All countries have paid a high price for this failure, but the impacts on developing countries have been particularly hard. The UN remains the only truly universal body where all countries participate as equals, and the consensus adoption of the UN resolution, including the decision to begin intergovernmental discussions on international tax matters under the auspices of the UN, constitutes a truly historical shift towards fairness and inclusivity. 

The urgency of this matter cannot be overstated. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic and the “cost of living crisis”, the fight to increase domestic resource mobilisation and combat illicit financial flows has never been more vital. In 2021, the State of Tax Justice report estimated that countries around the world are losing over US$450 billion per year due to international tax dodging and abuse by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals. Faced with the challenges of financing the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and combatting the global environmental crises, it is clear that the international community must take urgent action to strengthen international tax cooperation and stop the immense bleeding of public resources. 

We remain at your disposal if you would like to receive more information or would like to meet to discuss this issue further. 

 

Yours sincerely,

Civil Society Financing for Development Group (www.csoforffd.org)

 

Signatories

 

  1. Civil Society Financing for Development (FfD) Group
  2. Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ): Alliance of five continental tax and fiscal justice networks in Asia (Tax & Fiscal Justice Asia), Africa (Tax Justice Network Africa), Latin America (Red de Justicia Fiscal de América Latina y el Caribe), Europe (Tax Justice-Europe) and North America (Canadians for Tax Fairness & FACT Coalition), collectively representing hundreds of organisations. 
  3. European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad)

 

High-Level Sessions of WSIS Forum 2022

Following the Opening Ceremony, join WSIS for three more high-level sessions

10:30–10:40 Remarks by the Chairman of the WSIS Forum 2022 and Announcement of the High-level Track Facilitators

  • Mr. Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, ITU
  • Chairman Elect: H.E. Mr. Isa Ali Ibrahim, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Nigeria

– Mr. Antonio Vitorino, Director General, IOM (video message)

– Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director, UN Habitat (video message)

– Ms. Sima Bahous, Executive Director, UN Women (video message)

 

10:40-11:40 High-level Strategic Dialogue with Partners: ICTs for Well-Being, Inclusion and Resilience: WSIS Cooperation for Accelerating Progress on the SDGs

  • Mr. Malcolm Johnson, Deputy Secretary-General, ITU (Moderator)
  • Ms. Mashael Ali Yousef Al Hammadi, Acting Assistant Undersecretary of Government Information Technology Affairs, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Qatar (Gold Partner)
  • Mr. Yoichi Kanda, Director, Global Strategy Division, Global Strategy Bureau, Japan – Partner for Specific Activities
  • Mr. Alpesh Shah, Senior Director of Global Business Strategy & Intelligence Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) – Partner for Specific Activities
  • Dr. Zhong Luo, Chair, ITU-T SG16 VP, Standards & Industry Development, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., China, Partner for Specific Activities
  • Ms. Janet Umutesi, Senior Manager, Quality Assurance – RURA & ITU Direct Focal Point, Rwanda – Contributing Partner
  • TBC, Confederation of Switzerland – Contributing Partner
  • Ms. Constance Bommelaer de Leusse, Vice President, Institutional Relations and Empowerment, Internet Society (ISOC) – Contributing Partner
  • EY – Contributing Partner (TBC)

–  Ms. Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary, UN ECE (video message)

– Ms. Armida Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary, UN ESCAP (video message)

– Mr. Nikhil Seth, Executive Director, UNITAR (video message)

 

11:40-12:40  High-Level Strategic Dialogue – WSIS+20: Multistakeholder Digital Cooperation for global development (WSIS Action Lines to achieve the SDGs)

  • Mr. Mario Maniewicz, BR Director (Moderator)
  • Ms. Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, Acting Envoy on Technology, Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology UN Tech Envoy (video message)
  • H.E. Mr. Chris Philp, Minister for Technology and the Digital Economy, United Kingdom – Supporting Partner (video message)
  • H.E. Mr. Kwame McCoy, MP, Minister, Within Office of the Prime Minister of Guyana, Guyana
  • Mrs. Maitseo Ratladi, Director Broadband & Universal Access and Services, Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA)
  • Mr. Mansour Al-Qurashi, Chair, CSTD (TBC)
  • Mr. Michael Hodin, GCOA – Supporting Partner
  • Ms. Moira de Roche, Vice President, IFIP – Supporting Partner

______________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit congocsd.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on Language and Languages, please email the co-chairs at tonkin@hartford.edu or fmhult@umbc.edu.

High-Level Sessions of WSIS Forum 2022

Following the Opening Ceremony, join WSIS for three more high-level sessions

10:30–10:40 Remarks by the Chairman of the WSIS Forum 2022 and Announcement of the High-level Track Facilitators

  • Mr. Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, ITU
  • Chairman Elect: H.E. Mr. Isa Ali Ibrahim, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Nigeria

– Mr. Antonio Vitorino, Director General, IOM (video message)

– Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director, UN Habitat (video message)

– Ms. Sima Bahous, Executive Director, UN Women (video message)

 

10:40-11:40 High-level Strategic Dialogue with Partners: ICTs for Well-Being, Inclusion and Resilience: WSIS Cooperation for Accelerating Progress on the SDGs

  • Mr. Malcolm Johnson, Deputy Secretary-General, ITU (Moderator)
  • Ms. Mashael Ali Yousef Al Hammadi, Acting Assistant Undersecretary of Government Information Technology Affairs, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Qatar (Gold Partner)
  • Mr. Yoichi Kanda, Director, Global Strategy Division, Global Strategy Bureau, Japan – Partner for Specific Activities
  • Mr. Alpesh Shah, Senior Director of Global Business Strategy & Intelligence Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) – Partner for Specific Activities
  • Dr. Zhong Luo, Chair, ITU-T SG16 VP, Standards & Industry Development, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., China, Partner for Specific Activities
  • Ms. Janet Umutesi, Senior Manager, Quality Assurance – RURA & ITU Direct Focal Point, Rwanda – Contributing Partner
  • TBC, Confederation of Switzerland – Contributing Partner
  • Ms. Constance Bommelaer de Leusse, Vice President, Institutional Relations and Empowerment, Internet Society (ISOC) – Contributing Partner
  • EY – Contributing Partner (TBC)

–  Ms. Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary, UN ECE (video message)

– Ms. Armida Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary, UN ESCAP (video message)

– Mr. Nikhil Seth, Executive Director, UNITAR (video message)

 

11:40-12:40  High-Level Strategic Dialogue – WSIS+20: Multistakeholder Digital Cooperation for global development (WSIS Action Lines to achieve the SDGs)

  • Mr. Mario Maniewicz, BR Director (Moderator)
  • Ms. Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, Acting Envoy on Technology, Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology UN Tech Envoy (video message)
  • H.E. Mr. Chris Philp, Minister for Technology and the Digital Economy, United Kingdom – Supporting Partner (video message)
  • H.E. Mr. Kwame McCoy, MP, Minister, Within Office of the Prime Minister of Guyana, Guyana
  • Mrs. Maitseo Ratladi, Director Broadband & Universal Access and Services, Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA)
  • Mr. Mansour Al-Qurashi, Chair, CSTD (TBC)
  • Mr. Michael Hodin, GCOA – Supporting Partner
  • Ms. Moira de Roche, Vice President, IFIP – Supporting Partner

______________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit congocsd.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on Language and Languages, please email the co-chairs at tonkin@hartford.edu or fmhult@umbc.edu.

NGO CSW/NY monthly meeting

Join the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY for our December Monthly Meeting! This month, we’ll be exploring the intersection of human rights and climate change.At the beginning of the meeting, we will provide updates on NGO CSW/NY and the NGO CSW66 Forum.Date: Thursday, 16 December 2021Time: 1 – 3 pm EST Find your timezone here.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMpdeitpjwrGt2kwX-PL-O5LEnMa8n3XUH9?mc_cid=b7da83fba2&mc_eid=918abc9424

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CoNGO Notes: The NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY is a Substantive Committee of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations. Likewise, for more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch.

NGO CSW/NY monthly meeting

Join the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY for our December Monthly Meeting! This month, we’ll be exploring the intersection of human rights and climate change.At the beginning of the meeting, we will provide updates on NGO CSW/NY and the NGO CSW66 Forum.Date: Thursday, 16 December 2021Time: 1 – 3 pm EST Find your timezone here.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMpdeitpjwrGt2kwX-PL-O5LEnMa8n3XUH9?mc_cid=b7da83fba2&mc_eid=918abc9424

___________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: The NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY is a Substantive Committee of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations. Likewise, for more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch.

Transforming Climate Finance to Radically Transform Societies: The Case of Green Climate Fund Funding

Join CIDSE on Nov. 4 for an expert panel discussion on “Transforming Climate Finance to Radically Transform Societies: the Case of Green Climate Fund Funding.”

In the context of COVID-19, climate ambition entails not only lowering greenhouse gas emissions, but also recovering effectively by addressing climate impacts, food security, poverty and inequality holistically. Climate change has a direct impact on communities, (small scale) food producers, and civil society organisations (CSOs) operating at the local level in many developing countries.

Because they are based on local realities, including the needs and knowledge of local actors, locally-driven, innovative climate-response measures are highly effective in promoting climate adaptation and resilience, ecosystem recovery, low-carbon emissions, and sustainable development.  The scaling up of climate finance will be a pressing issue at COP26, with the review of the second commitment period being particularly important.

The GCF has committed to becoming a paradigm-shifting and transformative fund for low-emission and climate-resilient development, dedicated solely to climate financing in developing countries, with a focus on both mitigation and adaptation. However, our studies have shown that barriers for CSOs to access GCF funds exist and are systemic, massive. Our studies also show that agroecology receives minimal support from the fund while it is now recognized to be key to food system transformation we dramatically need and to cope with the multiple crises we faceAddressing, reducing and overcoming these barriers as well as increasing the quality of funding for agriculture will be essential for the Fund to fulfill its mission of transformative change-making.

Learn more & register here.

For further relevant reading, see this CIDSE study: “Improving civil society’s limited access to the Green Climate Fund.”

With questions about the event, please contact Lydia Machaka, CIDSE Climate Justice Officer, at machaka(at)cidse.org.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit congocsd.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP

Transforming Climate Finance to Radically Transform Societies: The Case of Green Climate Fund Funding

Join CIDSE on Nov. 4 for an expert panel discussion on “Transforming Climate Finance to Radically Transform Societies: the Case of Green Climate Fund Funding.”

In the context of COVID-19, climate ambition entails not only lowering greenhouse gas emissions, but also recovering effectively by addressing climate impacts, food security, poverty and inequality holistically. Climate change has a direct impact on communities, (small scale) food producers, and civil society organisations (CSOs) operating at the local level in many developing countries.

Because they are based on local realities, including the needs and knowledge of local actors, locally-driven, innovative climate-response measures are highly effective in promoting climate adaptation and resilience, ecosystem recovery, low-carbon emissions, and sustainable development.  The scaling up of climate finance will be a pressing issue at COP26, with the review of the second commitment period being particularly important.

The GCF has committed to becoming a paradigm-shifting and transformative fund for low-emission and climate-resilient development, dedicated solely to climate financing in developing countries, with a focus on both mitigation and adaptation. However, our studies have shown that barriers for CSOs to access GCF funds exist and are systemic, massive. Our studies also show that agroecology receives minimal support from the fund while it is now recognized to be key to food system transformation we dramatically need and to cope with the multiple crises we faceAddressing, reducing and overcoming these barriers as well as increasing the quality of funding for agriculture will be essential for the Fund to fulfill its mission of transformative change-making.

Learn more & register here.

For further relevant reading, see this CIDSE study: “Improving civil society’s limited access to the Green Climate Fund.”

With questions about the event, please contact Lydia Machaka, CIDSE Climate Justice Officer, at machaka(at)cidse.org.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit congocsd.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP

Episcopal Church Climate Advocacy at the UN: COP26 Kick-Off with Bishop’s Delegation

Dear UN faith-based and civil society partners in climate action at COP26,

You are warmly invited to Episcopal Church Climate Advocacy at the UN: COP26 Kick-Off with the Presiding Bishop’s Delegation,” this Thursday, October 28th, 1 – 2:30 pm Eastern, as well as our subsequent events on November 6th and 12th.

Find all the information here: The Episcopal Church’s presence at COP26.

Kind regards,

Lynnaia Main |  OFFICER, EPISCOPAL CHURCH REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS  | Mission | The Episcopal Church

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit congocsd.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org

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