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.”