Under the patronage of HE Sheikh / Jassim Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Thani, Minister of Business and Trade, the Third Corporate Social Responsibility Conference, which comes this year under the slogan “Be Part of the Event” and organized by the Department of International Cooperation & Trade Agreements in the Ministry, was launched this morning, Monday 03/10/2011, at Al-Majles Hall in the Doha Sheraton Hotel, where it will continue its work for two consecutive days.
HE Sheikh / Khalifa Bin Jassim Al-Thani, Chairman of Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry addressed a speech during the opening session in which he thanked the Ministry of Business and Trade for organizing this important conference, saying that the concept of Social Responsibility has always been combined with the Chambers of Commerce, as it is based mainly on the principle of the participation of the Private Sector in the development process, as a part of its duties and commitments toward the community.
He added that the Chamber of Commerce is keen to significantly maximize the benefits of the development as they constitute one of the chief goals of the Chamber’s strategy. HE the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce pointed out at the end of his speech, the important progress made by Qatar as a result of its permanent commitment and respect to the social responsibility, in addition to its compliance with the Ten Principles of the Global Compact, including human rights, equality in employment, development and environment protection. 
From his side, HE Sheikh / Nawaf Bin Nasser Al-Thani, member of the Qatari Businessmen Association, stated in a similar speech that this CSR conference had known a wide support and promotion during the last period, explaining that the concept of Social Responsibility not only has benefits on the social development, but it helps the companies as well to enhance their role and competitiveness. 
He said at the end of his speech that the Qatari Businessmen Association aims to raise awareness of the role of the private sector and unify the efforts of the Qatari Businessmen in a way that serves the goals of the economic and social development.
Mr. Ahmed Ahn, Director of International Cooperation & Trade Agreements Department, addressed in his turn the speech on behalf of the Ministry of Business and Trade, saying that arranging this conference for the third consecutive year reaffirms the Ministry’s commitment to put the principles of the business ethics as a priority, noting that the ministry is currently working forward to adopt Qatari Standards for Corporate Social Responsibility.
He added that the objective of holding these conferences, starting from 2009, is relating the development to the social and environmental goals and purifying the business environment of all the impurities that may disrupt the economic growth of the society, pointing out that these purposes have gained the acceptance of all companies that became, all around the world, responsible to respect the social and environmental performance during their work.
The Director of the International Cooperation & Trade Agreements clarified that the State of Qatar has included a development strategy within the 2030 Qatar Vision that aims, with regards to the Social Responsibility, to manage the environment in a way that ensures harmony and consistency between the goals of the social and economic development, in addition to the environmental protection, taking into consideration that the achievement of these objectives requires the commitment of the business society to the standards that ensure the harmonization between its performance and activities, and this vision, and that is what is called “ Standards of Social Responsibility”.
Adding to that, he noted that the Ministry of Business and Trade, through a large group including a number of Ministries and Governmental Agencies, had taken steps towards the proposal of the Social Responsibility Standards for the Qatari companies, and that these proposed standards are in the process of adoption, and they will be used to distinguish between the companies with excellent social and environmental performance and those that fail to respect the social goals, affirming that the Ministry is considering granting prestigious awards to the companies showing good performance in relation to these standards and criteria.
At the end of his speech, Mr. Ahn asserted that the organization of this conference comes as a genuine partnership between the Ministry of Business and Trade and the Business Community, which constitutes a practical implementation of the State’s vision and philosophy, declaring that the Ministry had received requests from National and Foreign companies operating in the State, to sponsor and participate in these conference, in order to exchange their experiences with other companies. The Ministry of Business and Trade values the roles of these companies and invites all the different companies in the State to adopt and put these principles of the Social Responsibility as their priority.
After that, the welcome speeches continued and included speeches by the United Nations Global Compact Agency, and Chairman of the International Coalition for Information and Communication and Development Technology at the United Nations, in addition to speeches addressed by the Sponsors in which they praised the role of the Ministry of Business and Trade in holding this conference and establishing the principle of Corporate Social Responsibility.
During the conference, twelve work papers discussing the roles of the Governments and the Private Sector in the Corporate Social Responsibility will be presented, and local and international experiences in Social Responsibility will be discussed, in addition to the future of the environment in the State of Qatar. The conference will also include a workshop for registration in the Global Compact Agency.
The conference was attended by a number of Senior Officials from the Ministry of Business and Trade and other ministries, in addition to several board chairmen, CEOs, Managers and experts in the Social Responsibility domain.