I think the idea behind the Oslo Award, and the potential impact it may have, is important and inspiring. Nobel Laureate He Kofi A. Annan
The 2011 Oslo Peace through Trade Summit
Each year, the Business for Peace Foundation arranges a Peace through Trade Summit in Oslo, Norway. The 2011 Summit will be held on 17 October, at Oslo City Hall. At each Summit, we examine the relationship between peace and trade through Keynote presentations and a panel debate. This year, the Summit will take the form of a Research Symposium presenting recent and ground breaking research on the relationship between business and peace. Our collaborators on the Symposium are the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the International Council of Swedish Industry, the Institute of Corporate Responsibility at George Washington University and the Peace Research Institute of Oslo.
There is a growing awareness of the importance of ethical and responsible business as a way to promote peace and stability. This emerging awareness is demonstrated both in research and through policy decisions, as well as in good business practice. We see the increased transparency resulting from modern communications as an important driver, with the internet and social networking opening up new channels of oversight and influence. Business must accept and adapt to this development, drawing both guidance and benefit from it. Achieving business success is no longer merely a question of how the bottom line performs, but as much a function of how a business relates to its surroundings, and how society responds to its total performance.
Through our annual Summits on Peace through Trade we wish to build a greater understanding of the importance of these interrelationships.