Development of social responsibility in all segments of social living, with respect towards the UN Global Compact principles, is one of the primary priorities of USJE. Cementarnica USJE together with the association Konekt started the initiative for strengthening the Macedonian UN Global Compact Network and on Oct. 05th, 2011 organized a conference aiming reaffirmation of the Network.
„Social responsibility is a complex area that needs continuous upgrading and monitoring of the needs of the community. Therefore, an open dialogue and summarizing of the accomplishments, as well as comparison with the situation in the region is essential for successful deepening of the cooperation and providing new value”, stated Goran Lazarevski, national representative of the Macedonian UN Global Compact Network.
Through their activities, Macedonian companies, members of the UN Global Compact initiative and the Macedonian UN Global Compact Network, provided support to an array of projects that were key to the development of certain segments of the society. Through education, support and cooperation, Macedonian companies in cooperation with public institutions and the nongovernmental sector on local and national level realized a number of projects with crucial importance for specific social groups and the society at large.
„As a member of the UN Global Compact Initiative, through the company’s daily activities in different fields, Cementarnica Usje AD confirms its determination to be a constructive partner of the local community and wider society and actively to participate in the development. Our future assignment is to deepen this cooperation and permanently evolve our activities in order to improve them. We hope that our example will be followed by other companies and will join the Macedonian UN Global Compact Network.”, stated Boris Hrisafov, CEO of Cementarnica Usje AD, company that supported this conference.
The conference was attended by representatives of the private sector, NGOs, representatives of the Ministry of Economy and of the National Coordinative Body for Corporate Social Responsibility. Referring to the United Nations point of view, support for deepening of the cooperation was given by Alessandro Fracasseti, UNDP’s Deputy Resident Representative.
„We expect that after today’s conference, many other Macedonian companies dedicated to socially responsible action will join the network“, stated Nikica Kusinikova, CEO of Connect, the association where the Secretariat of the Macedonian UN Global Compact Network is located.
The Global Compact is the largest voluntary initiative for social responsibility of companies around the world and it derived from the United Nations. This agreement is based on the ten principles that incorporate the areas of human rights, non-abuse of child labor, environment and fight against corruption. Companies-members of the UN Global Compact accept these principles and apply them in their daily operations and thus comprise the driving force of global development, through concrete contribution for the development of the community they work in.
The Plan for future activities of the Macedonian UN Global Compact Network was presented at today’s conference.
Additional information:
The UN Global Compact was activated in Macedonia in 2004 by UNDP. Today the Macedonian UN Global Compact Network includes 43 companies, NGOs and other members. For further development of these issues in Macedonia, a national Coordinative Body for Social Responsibility was established, which with the support from UNDP developed the National Agenda for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of companies in the Republic of Macedonia 2008-2012 that was adopted by the Government of R Macedonia. The National Coordinative Body for Corporate Social Responsibility established the annual National Award for Best CSR Practices. The UN Global Compact is the largest global voluntary social responsibility initiative with over 8700 members in 130 countries worldwide.