NATO Chief urges big business to play its role in global terror fight
6 September 2007
Speaking at Lloyd’s fifth City Dinner, hosted by Lord Levene, business leaders were told by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, that they can make a powerful contribution towards global security, and that now is the right time to do it.
"Localised risks have become global dangers that respect no borders. Look at Afghanistan," de Hoop Scheffer said. "Until 2001, it seemed to many of us to be farther away than the other side of the world. But the cancer growing there, in the shadows, metastised into a terror organisation that planned in Germany, trained in Africa, and struck in the US, and has struck around the world since."
Businesses are vital in the fight against this terror, de Hoop Scheffer continued: "First: Afghanistan needs investment. The Taliban’s best recruiting sergeant is the economy – they pay unemployed young men to fight for them. If those boys had a job that paid them a reasonable amount, they would not risk dying for $10 a day. Coca Cola has a major bottling plant in Afghanistan. I doubt very much if the Taliban recruits well among the Coca Cola factory staff.
"Second: let your voices be heard, here in the UK, in support of your military, in support of defence spending, in support of NATO. I firmly believe that these support you, every day, by creating a climate in which you can work effectively. But they need your support too. With security, as with so many other things, you get what you pay for. It cannot be bought on the cheap."
Lloyd’s Chairman, Lord Peter Levene, added: "Insurance is a truly international industry, and Lloyd’s business is truly global with three-quarters coming from overseas. What happens around the world is therefore of great importance to us and our customers. Not least because research which we undertook with global business leaders earlier this year shows that the world’s most forward looking companies are ever more concerned about security risk.
"Well over half of business leaders today believe that political violence risk will increase worldwide over the next five years, and there are three emerging areas of terrorism risk which the world’s more forward looking companies are beginning to address.
"Concern about energy security has brought to the fore the issue of supply chain risk. Around a quarter of large companies think an attack on their energy supply is now a significant risk for their business. In this increasingly interconnected world economy, it is clearly no longer enough to manage the risks your own organisation faces – you must understand the risk of those you do business with too."
Lord Levene told guests: "The rise of home-grown terrorism is another emerging threat which seems to have taken society by surprise. The consensus at our recent Lloyd’s conference was that this is probably the greatest security threat the UK currently faces. Yet the majority of global business leaders admitted that they do not really understand the impact for business, and they are unsure what they might do in response.
"But this is a world where more than half of business leaders say their companies are as much a target for a terrorist attack as government. So investing in risk management, in the widest sense of the term, can make a vital contribution to contribute towards a more stable global operating environment."
For further information on terrorism and political risk from Lloyd's 360 risk project, click here.
Last updated on 24 Jan 2008
