{"id":15908,"date":"2019-07-18T03:57:13","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T03:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cibjo.org\/?p=15908"},"modified":"2021-10-15T09:14:51","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T09:14:51","slug":"cibjo-president-advocates-case-for-small-business-enterprises-during-uns-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cibjo.org\/rstoolkit\/cibjo-president-advocates-case-for-small-business-enterprises-during-uns-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development\/","title":{"rendered":"CIBJO President advocates case for small business enterprises during UN\u2019s High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

ABOVE:\u00a0<\/em>CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri (left) addressing the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), during the 2019 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at the United Nations in New York on July 17.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>

JULY 18, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking at a meeting of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), which took place during the United Nation\u2019s 2019 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York, CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri has advocated for the position of small and medium-sized enterprises. Sustainable economies rely on the contribution of SMEs, he said, but too often they find themselves operating at a severe disadvantage when compared to larger companies.<\/p>\n

The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), which currently is underway at UN headquarters in New York, is the international body\u2019s main platform for monitoring follow-up on the actions of states and other actors towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/span>

Members of the panel during the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) session at the United Nations on July 17, 2019, listening to the intervention by CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>

One of the challenges we have faced in raising the positive developmental impact of SMEs in the jewellery and gemstone business is that, frequently, the due-diligence and financial requirements necessary to demonstrate that they comply with responsible business practices place them at a significant disadvantage,\u201d Dr. Cavalieri said. \u201cIn the jewellery business this is particularly ironic because, although turnover is dominated by a relatively small number of large corporations and brands, employment and company ownership are overwhelmingly vested with SMEs, most of which are family owned.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Echoing the 2019 HLPF\u2019s theme of “Empowering people, ensuring inclusiveness and equality,\u201d the CIBJO President stressed that ways must be found to raise the involvement of all players in the business sector in capacity-building and sustainable development. \u00a0Remaining inclusive, he said, means not disadvantaging SMEs.<\/p>\n

Opening the HLPF session the day before, UN Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres had said that the world\u2019s people are demanding \u201ctransformative change that is fair and sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence is clear,\u201d the UN Secretary General stated, \u201cdevelopment is not sustainable if it is not fair and inclusive \u2013 and rising inequality hinders long-term growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

CIBJO was attending the HLPF in its capacity as the international jewellery sector\u2019s representative in the UN\u2019s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which is one of the six main organs of the United Nations and is the principal body for coordinating policy review, dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. CIBJO was awarded special consultative status in ECOSOC in 2006, and that same year joined the UN Global Compact, which the global network of sustainable companies and organisations that pledge to \u00a0align their strategies and operations with basic principle on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JULY 17, 2019:<\/B> Sustainable economies rely on the contribution of SMEs, said Dr. Cavalieri, but too often they find themselves operating at a severe disadvantage when compared to larger companies.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[38,82],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cibjo.org\/rstoolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cibjo.org\/rstoolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cibjo.org\/rstoolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cibjo.org\/rstoolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cibjo.org\/rstoolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cibjo.org\/rstoolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cibjo.org\/rstoolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cibjo.org\/rstoolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cibjo.org\/rstoolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cibjo.org\/rstoolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}