Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, Ladies and gentlemen,
What a day this has been.
Let me begin by expressing my deep gratitude to our co-hosts: UN DESA, the UN Global Compact, and the International Organization of Employers, for bringing us together. To every panelist, speaker, and participant who contributed today: your insights and commitment have made this forum what it was meant to be.
The energy in this room, the honest conversations we’ve had, the solutions you’ve shared.
Three decades after Copenhagen, we’re not here to repeat old promises.
We’re here because every business leader like you in this room today understands something fundamental: business can be the most powerful engine for social development, but only when it’s guided by principles that put people and planet at the centre.
To that end, today revealed four truths that we cannot afford to ignore.
Four principles that should guide everything we do when we leave Doha.
First truth: Skills without markets are promises we can’t keep.
We know the possibilities that open up with education, training, and lifelong learning. But we have to stop preparing people for jobs that will soon no longer exist and start preparing them for the jobs that may not even exist yet.
Education disconnected from market realities is a betrayal of young people and of workers trying to adapt. It also leaves employers scrambling for skilled talents and undermines efforts to build future-ready economies.
We should be intentional about connecting what people learn to what markets need.
The second truth is that responsible business conduct builds the world your business needs.
We heard compelling examples today of companies embedding human rights into operations, engaging with workers, ensuring decent work and living wages across supply chains, letting environmental standards guide their decisions.
What these stories revealed is that when the work environment is a fair one, when you invest in labour rights, fair wages, and safe conditions, you enhance productivity, strengthen the foundation of your business stands on.
You’re also laying a stronger foundation for stable societies that benefit everyone.
The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact on human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption provide the roadmap for this approach.
Third truth: Inclusive business models scale because they are profitable, not because they’re ‘nice to have’.
The companies making real impact aren’t treating inclusion as a corporate social responsibility box-ticking exercise. It’s part of the DNA of their core business. These models succeed because they’re solving real problems for real people. When you scale solutions that generate inclusive employment, including addressing the needs of workers in the informal economy, you are reducing vulnerabilities across communities and societies – and that’s smart business.
Fourth, and finally: finance flows to what we value, so let’s amplify those values.
Small and medium enterprises are the backbone of every economy, yet so many – especially those led by women, young people, persons with disabilities, older persons and marginalized groups – can’t access the capital they need to grow.
Technology is changing that. A woman entrepreneur in a rural village can now access credit through her mobile phone.
A young innovator can sell products directly to customers halfway around the world through e-commerce.
Financial literacy that once required a bank branch now reaches people wherever they are.
Technology isn’t just bridging the divide – it’s creating opportunities that never existed before, lowering barriers that once kept millions locked out.
When we expand financial inclusion, when we align investment with social objectives, use blended finance and impact investing to channel resources toward enterprises that deliver both economic and social returns, we are unlocking growth that’s been sitting there, waiting.
Ladies and gentlemen,
So here’s what we do when we leave Doha.
We go beyond acknowledging these truths and make them the principles that drive our actions.
We dig deep.
We connect education systems to today’s and tomorrow’s labour market realities.
We make responsible conduct non-negotiable across our operations.
We scale the inclusive models that are profitable.
We open up finance to the entrepreneurs who will drive the next wave of growth.
The Doha Political Declaration calls for renewed solidarity and collaboration. What that means in practice is this: business, government, civil society, UN entities – all of us working together and acknowledging the final truth that underscores everything we have discussed today – none of us can do this alone.
This forum should be a launchpad, so let’s make sure we deliver.
Thank you.
