Advancing MDGs and Global Compact principles – a new UNITAR affiliated training centre opens

24 May 2011, Antwerp, Belgium - One hundred and ninety two children holding the flags of United Nations Member States made a guard of honor from the Antwerp City Hall to a 17th century historical building dedicated at the occasion of the inauguration of the Antwerp International Training Centre for Corporate Opportunities (ITCCO)," a UNITAR affiliated training center on corporate social responsibility supported by the UN Global Compact

Co-sponsored by the Flemish Government, the City of Antwerp, the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) and its World Jewellery Confederation Education Foundation (WJCEF), the Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC), and the Fonds voor de Diamantnijverheid (Diamond Industry Fund) , the centre aims at stimulating businesses around the world to embrace Corporate Social Responsibility and adopt the principles of the UN Global Compact as a way to increase their contribution to the Millennium Development Goals. Also playing a key role in its establishment was HRD Antwerp. Starting operations with the diamond and jewelry industry, it is expected that other industries will join its efforts.

Joining Carlos Lopes, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNITAR; Kris Peeters, Minister President of the Flemish Governmen; Patrick Janssens, Mayor of Antwerp; Ludo Van Campenhout, Vice Mayor of Antwerp with responsibility for the diamond industry; Nishit Parikh, president of AWDC; Gaetano Cavalieri, president of CIBJO; John Colpaert, President of the Fonds voor de Diamantnijverheid; and Soren Petersen, Head of Local Networks at the UN Global Compact.

The first set of courses at Antwerp ITCCO is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2011.

(Picture: from left to rigth: Patrick Janssens, Ludo Van Campenhout, Carlos Lopes, Kris Peeters / courtesy by Donald B. Woodrow)