March 26, 2008,
Hotel Opera, Kyiv

United Nations in Ukraine and BEST analytical center are pleased to invite you to the first “Developing Business Partnerships for CSR” Forum.  The Forum, organized with the support of System Capital Management and Konrad Adenauer Foundation, will discuss the importance of establishing partnerships between businesses for the successful implementation of socially responsible strategies.

In today’s world, companies are increasingly finding that advancing broader societal objectives is a necessary step to ensure the growth and stability of their own business operations. Effective partnerships between businesses can enhance CSR through overcoming challenges that are too difficult or complex for one company to address alone. Partnerships can also make CSR efforts more effective by combining resources and competencies in innovative ways. Collaboration can enable companies and organizations to better achieve their own individual objectives through leveraging, combining and capitalizing on complementary strengths and capabilities.

The Forum brings together business representatives to discuss how partnering together can reinforce CSR development in Ukraine.

This Forum will focus on the following main aspects:

1. Models of cooperation between companies on implementing CSR, including within sectors, competitors-to-competitors, and mechanisms of business partnership in CSR between companies of different sizes.
2. Existing practices and opportunities for multinational businesses and large Ukrainian companies to promote CSR along their supply and value chains.

YOU WILL BENEFIT FROM:

• Learning the latest trends in building partnerships for CSR, including International case studies and Ukraine.
• The opportunity to discuss the hottest and controversial issues on partnering with your competitors for enhancing social responsibility.
• Getting a broad network of contacts with colleagues and setting up the grounds for further fruitful collaboration.

REGISTRATION:

You can register for the conference by filling out the registration form attached to this invitation and sending it to Victoria Vakhrusheva at victoria@best-ltd.com.ua by 21 March 2008.

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PROGRAMME

9:00–9:30 Registration of the participants

9:30–10:00 Welcome addresses

• Francis O’Donnell
  UN Resident Coordinator
• Irina Akimova
  Deputy of Verhovna Rada, Honourable Member of Research Centre BEST
• Jock Mendoza-Wilson
  Director of International and Investor Relations, System Capital Management
• Nico Lange
  Director of Ukraine programme and Kiev office, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

10:00–11:15 MODELS OF COOPERATION BETWEEN COMPANIES OF DIFFERENT SIZES IN CSR: POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMEs

Facilitator: Irina Akimova
Deputy of Verhovna Rada, Honourable Member of Research Centre BEST

Presenters:

• Elena Korf
  Programme Manager, International Business Leaders Forum, Great Britain
• Olga Rudneva
  Director, Elena Franchuk “ANTIAIDS” Foundation
• Oksana Rudiuk
  Head of Public Relations Department, LCC “Astelit” on behalf of mobile operators’ business coalition combating human trafficking
• Anna Derevyanko
  Executive Director, European Business Association
• Per Fischer
  Head of Financial Institutions, Senior Vice President, and Head of Central and Eastern Europe, CIS, Baltic Сommerzbank

Q&A Session

11:15–11:35 Coffee break 
   

11:35–12:50 CSR MANAGEMENT PRACTICES: LARGE UKRAINIAN COMPANIES AND MNCs     ALONG THE SUPPLY CHAIN

Facilitator: Elena Panova
Public-Private Partnership Officer, United Nations in Ukraine

Presenters:

• Chabuca Barnes 
  Manager, Products and Services
  CSR Europe, Belgium
• Jock Mendoza-Wilson
  Director of International and Investor Relations, System Capital Management
• Axel Hluchy
  Managing Director, Metro Ukraine
• Olesya Zhulynska
  Public Affairs Manager, Coca-Cola Ukraine
• Klaus Steilmann
  Honourable Consul of Ukraine in Germany 

Q&A Session

12:50–13:00 Wrap up and closing remarks
   
Irina Akimova
Deputy of Verhovna Rada, Honourable Member of Research Centre BEST

13:00–14:30 Business networking lunch