Ericsson racing team to raise awareness of MDGs

Telecommunications giant Ericsson will raise awareness of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) during the Volvo Ocean Race, an around-the-world sailing competition.

Teaming up with Mary Robinson, former United Nations high commissioner for human rights, and Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University and special adviser to the U.N. secretary-general, Ericsson will engage with customers and other stakeholders to increase awareness of the key role that the ICT sector can play in enabling human rights and ending global poverty.

Mobile phones, wireless Internet and Ericsson's other technologies are being used in innovative new ways in health care, education and business development, Sachs said, connecting rural and impoverished places that would otherwise be cut off from the rest of the world.

"We are in a unique position to involve our customers in this call to action," said Carl-Henric Svanberg, Ericsson president and CEO.

The eight MDGs, adopted by U.N. member states in 2001, call for a global partnership for development. The ICT sector is the only business sector that is highlighted as critical to achieving the goals, Svanberg noted.

Ericsson hopes to use its global position as the leading telecommunications vendor to catalyze the telecom sector and harness the technology and expertise of the industry to find tangible solutions to halve global extreme poverty, he added.

"The MDGs are among the most compelling global issues of our time," Svanberg said, "and with our presence in 170 countries, we know that our sector can make a real difference and achieve concrete results."

"Never before has the private sector had such influence and opportunity to contribute to human rights enshrined in the MDGs," said Robinson. "Over the past 10 years, I have seen more and more business leaders make the connection between human rights and the success of their companies, and we recognize Ericsson's leadership in this area."

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.