Ukraine: A Watershed Moment for Corporate Diplomacy

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Palantir Technologies Inc. CEO Alex Karp, in the white shirt, speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, far right, and other officials June 2 in Kyiv. (Mykhailo Fedorov/Provided)

By Ambassador Stuart Holliday, CEO of Meridian International Center  Today, companies are the new diplomatic actors central to addressing the world’s shared challenges. A solemn anniversary. February 24th marked one year since the unprovoked, full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Throughout the past twelve months, the response by the Ukrainian forces in effectively driving back the Russian advances has surprised leaders across the globe, none more so than Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, the effectiveness of the Ukrainian military’s answer to the invasion is not the only response Putin may have miscalculated. The solidarity of the allied nations in standing...

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Salesforce is on a mission to drive meaningful climate action at scale.

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Salesforce at COP26

The following was written by Eric H. Loeb, Executive Vice President, Government Affairs, Salesforce. Salesforce is part of Meridian’s Corporate Council. Learn more here. For more than a decade, Salesforce has set ambitious climate targets. Climate is a key part of Salesforce’s public policy platform. Salesforce is committed to actively advocating for clear and consistent science-based climate policies that facilitate a just and equitable global transition to a 1.5°C future.   Salesforce considers the planet a stakeholder and believes that business can be a platform for change. As a COP26 partner, Salesforce collaborated with leaders across the globe, focused...

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The Role of the State Department in Responsible Business

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The following was written by The Honorable José W. Fernandez Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment U.S. Department of State. This feature can be found in our recently launched Corporate Systemic Responsibility Report which was the first outcome of our new Responsible Business Diplomacy initiative. To download the report and read other testimonies, click here. I thank the Meridian Center for this opportunity to share ideas on how governments, the private sector, civil society, and other stakeholders can work together to foster responsible business conduct. I appreciate the focus on the need for businesses to act...

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The Importance of Economic Diplomacy

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The following was written by The Honorable Fred P. Hochberg, Chair of Governance and Nominating Committee and member of the Meridian Board of Trustees. This feature can be found in our recently launched Corporate Systemic Responsibility Report which was the first outcome of our new Responsible Business Diplomacy initiative. To download the report and read other testimonies, click here. Harry Truman said, “Our relations, foreign and economic, are indivisible.” At the end of WWII, Truman understood that if America wanted to lead the post-war world, we had to do so on several fronts: militarily, diplomatically, and economically. We had...

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Business Engagement with Stakeholders and Multilateral Institutions

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The following is a Q&A between Melike Yetken Krilla, Head of International Organizations at Google and the Meridian Corporate Council. This conversation can be found in our recently launched Corporate Systemic Responsibility Report which was the first outcome of our new Responsible Business Diplomacy initiative. To download the report and read other testimonies, click here.  You lead Google’s work with International Organizations (IOs) like the United Nations, the OECD, and the World Health Organization — why are IOs a priority for a company like Google? Whether it’s a global health pandemic, climate change, or developing solutions to benefit the...

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