An international conference at Columbia University, New York, is set to debate the future of ethical investing facing the oil, gas and mining industries, including ways of improving partnerships and cooperation; and dealing with conflict.
The fifth Columbia International Investment Conference will have a special focus on the oil, gas and other extractive industries and the issues and challenges facing them in terms of sustainable development.
The conference is planned for October 27 – October 28, 2010.
The purpose will be to discuss and assess how past and ongoing initiatives to promote cooperation, transparent, equitable, and efficient Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the extractive industries have succeeded and how investments can achieve even better development outcomes.
The conference brings together important stakeholders, including corporate executives, investors, government ministers, administrators and regulators, and representatives of NGOs and international financial institutions.
The forward looking conference will look at issues such as transportation, refining, processing and exportation for the oil, gas and minerals industries, with sessions given over to issues such as limiting disputes and achieving better resolutions; and ensuring countries and companies get what they bargained for when ethical programmes are put in place.
A spokesperson for the University said:
“The challenges of poverty alleviation, environmental sustainability and governance can and should be addressed in an effective sustainability framework for foreign investment.
“The shared goal of companies, host-country Governments and civil society is an investment framework that promotes sustainable development and the mutual trust needed for long-term investments.
“The extractive industries face a special need for such trust, given the massive long-term investments that they undertake in poor and potentially unstable countries.”
The hosts say for investors to succeed and for host-countries to reap the potential benefits of such investments, better cooperative solutions needs to be found.
Thus, implementing a framework for sustainable development for extractive industries should be a cooperative effort among companies, governments and civil society in general.