PEACE-MAKER

The ICAPP Business Council (IBC), an affiliated body under the 352-strong International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), will hold its second meeting in Bangkok next week, May 27 to 30, and will be hosted by the ruling Pheu Thai Party of Thailand. 

The IBC was established to promote and facilitate potential business cooperation in the region through increased networking between the principal political parties and business communities.

Its inaugural meeting was held in Busan last year, co-hosted by the Minjoo (Democratic) Party and the People Power Party of the Republic of Korea. 
The following is an excerpt of the statement issued at the end of the conference:

“We welcomed the initiative taken by the ICAPP to expand the roles of political parties in promoting and facilitating potential business opportunities in the  region,  and  to establish the  IBC as  an affiliated body.  In this regard, we confirmed our commitment ‘to facilitate potential business and commercial cooperation’ among the political parties and business leaders in the region; 

“We noted  with  grave  concern  that  the  political  and  economic  landscape  has  become more precarious in recent months with uncertainty and confusion increasing due to geopolitical and  post-Covid  challenges. In particular,  while  businesses  need  more  than  ever  to  improve resilience  and  create  synergy  through  greater  inter-connectivity,  the  protectionist  trend  is recurring which will further disrupt the business atmosphere. In this regard, we agreed to build a closer network of political and business leaders in the region through the IBC, and to further strengthen cooperation among ourselves;

“We recognized that Asia, as an increasingly important player in the world, carries great responsibilities for the global economy, in particular in tackling global challenges.  We also welcomed the achievements made by the ICAPP since its inception in September 2000 in bringing together leaders of governing and opposition political parties to promote mutual understanding and partnership among countries in the region;

“On the occasion of launching the IBC, we noted, in particular, with grave concern that the  climate  change  still  remains  as  the  most  serious  challenge  despite  various  regional  and global alarms  and  endeavors  to  respond  to  them,  and  agreed  to  the  continued  urgency  for extraordinary  attention  and  action  by  the  international  community,  and  to  take  necessary actions to tackle the climate challenge head-on, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions to meet the targets set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement;

“In this regard, we recognized the significance of the partnership between politics and businesses  in  the  successful  implementation  of  policies  which  could  be  a  driving  force  in combating climate change. We agreed that political parties should devise policy options, with an up-to-date understanding of climate change and its impacts and risks, to help their respective governments  pursue  environmentally  coherent  and  sustainable  policies.  We  also  recognized that the successful transition to green energy highly depends on the relevant business practices and initiatives which are comparable with such government policies;

“We  also  recognized  that  the  development  and  application  of  clean  and  sustainable renewable energy is critical in averting the worst impacts of climate change. In particular, we acknowledged that clean hydrogen has a big potential to decarbonize large sectors of the global economy.”