Speech Sino-Swedish High Level Forum on CSR in Beijing 14 April 2008
Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister

Sino-Swedish High Level Forum on CSR in Beijing - Address by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt

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Your Excellency Minister Li Rongrong, Excellencies, Business Leaders, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour for me to open this important Sino-Swedish High Level Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility.

Relations between China and Sweden are strong and cover many fields. Chinese products have reached Sweden for centuries, by sea and via the Silk Road.

Several Swedish enterprises and businesses have had a presence in China for more than a century. I have been told that Ericsson delivered its first telephone system to China in the 1870s.

Quite impressive.

Last year we were very honoured to receive President Hu Jintao on a State visit to Sweden. During that visit, a Memorandum of Understanding on Corporate Social Responsibility was signed between our two governments. This provides a very good basis for enhanced cooperation between our countries in this field.

International trade is growing and has been growing for some time now. And so has the interaction between people and between businesses.
Knowledge, information, technology and capital are no longer locked behind national doors. They are spreading. And they're spreading fast.

For some of us, this development symbolises new possibilities to meet, develop and advance - in a way that earlier generations could never even dream of.

Others feel a growing insecurity, asking themselves if they still fit into this new world.

We know that knowledge and well-educated citizens are one key factor in making it in a globalised world. But we also know that we are not the only ones who have realised this.

400 000 engineers graduate every year from Chinese universities. That is more than the total number of engineers in Sweden.

Research and development are crucial components in tougher global competition.

Today China is spending a tremendous amount of money on research and development. International companies see China as one of the top destinations for research and development investments.

How can we match this?

Two questions. Two pieces in the globalisation puzzle.

Globalisation raises questions - but it also provides new opportunities.
New knowledge.
New markets.

Businesses entering the global market also meet new challenges - for example in the fields of environment, corruption or core labour standards.

Today there is widespread recognition that behaving responsibly and setting good examples makes good business sense.

The implementation of business codes and practices are not short-term costs, but long-term investments. Failing to act responsibly makes it harder to attract skilled staff and sell products and services.

I believe responsible business practices improves business profitability - and at the same time make communities and nations more competitive.

Corporate social responsibility is thus also a question of competitiveness. For countries as well as for companies. Last year, Sweden was rated as the most competitive country - based on the responsible competitiveness of its industry.

Our collective challenge - and opportunity - is to promote responsible competitiveness between companies, communities and nations that advances economic development in balance with social and environmental imperatives.

Swedish companies have a long tradition of working with NGOs on children's rights. In Africa, and in many emerging markets, the Swedish section of the international organisation 'Save the Children', has been working with companies for many years on this issue.

I am very pleased to see how new innovative alliances are being built in this way to meet global challenges.

And I am delighted today to announce a unique cooperation between the Swedish Government and Save the Children Sweden in China. This is a further step towards strengthening ties between Sweden and China.

Together, and as a firm commitment to the agreement between our two countries, we are setting up a "Corporate Social Responsibility Child Rights Competence Centre" in Beijing.

The Centre will help both Swedish and Chinese enterprises understand the benefits of adopting a child rights perspective when doing business, both in China and abroad. The Centre will be inaugurated in September 2008.

If a minimum level of responsible business practices is not upheld, people will not believe that business can make a difference in the real world.

And it will be easier for people to turn against globalisation.

I appreciate that it is not feasible to apply the same standards in all countries immediately. Rules and wages have to be adapted to local conditions to allow countries to grow and adapt to the global economy.

But this does not mean that lowering labour standards is acceptable as a tool to attract foreign trade and investment. Quite the opposite.

The right to organise, freedom of speech, and the abolition of the worst forms of child labour have nothing to do with the level of development. They are universal rights that must be universally respected. By governments and by businesses.

Responsible business practices are an opportunity not just for today's global corporations and advanced economies. Companies from emerging economies seek a greater role in world trade.

They recognise the need to align to accepted norms and principles. Because this also improves their competitiveness.

I believe that all countries, whatever their levels of economic development, can do more to promote responsible business practices and build competitiveness.

In the spirit of open dialogue and with the ambition of creating more responsible business practices, I look forward this afternoon to discussing with you the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

Thank you