CHOGM forum to focus on business solutions

The Commonwealth Business Forum to be held a few days before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit (CHOGM) in Malta will try to reach business solutions aimed at making globalisation work for all, the director-general and chief executive of the Commonwealth Business Council said yesterday.

Mohan Kaul was speaking at a business breakfast organised by The Malta Business Weekly.

At the end of the breakfast, he was asked why the business forum would not specifically be addressing the issues of developing nations, which represent some 50 per cent of the Commonwealth's population.

Dr Kaul said the business forum will focus on business solutions, especially because developing country issues would be discussed in the civil society forum and at heads of government level.

The thrust of the forum, which will include an impressive line-up ranging from world renowned thinker Edward de Bono to Saudi Prince Al Walid Ben Talal Al Saoud, is to make globalisation work for all, he reiterated.

CHOGM as a whole was a great opportunity for networking, he said, adding that a number of meetings will, this time round, take place between heads of government directly, precisely to boost the opportunity to cooperate.

In the context of the situation in Africa, he pointed out that South Africa has become the biggest investor in the continent, after the US and the UK, marking a clear shift in the investment flow. That is what the business forum would try to do: encourage discussions on solutions to help strengthen national economies through global business, he said.

Among the topics on the agenda on the first day of the forum will be Malta's potential as a business centre.