events 2008

Moderator Martin Veselovsky, Ambassador Graber and Plzensky Prazdroj CEO Mike Short

U.S. Embassy Gives Auspices  to Corporate Social Responsibility  Conference

June 9, 2008

A corporate social responsibility (CSR) conference took place at the Brevnovsky klaster in Prague 6 on Thursday, June 5. The conference was held under U.S. Embassy auspices and organized by the VIA Foundation and publishing house Economia.  The main goal was to present new CSR strategies and encourage more firms in the Czech Republic to develop their own CSR policies. The audience comprised almost 100 corporate executives, NGO representatives, and academics.

Ambassador Graber in his opening remarks emphasized: "CSR is not only about doing charity work. It is a commitment by businesses to behave ethically and transparently and to be accountable. This applies to small businesses and entrepreneurs as much as to big multinational corporations."

Among the panelists were Mark Kramer, Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (CSR Initiative of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business in Government), Roland Mahler, Managing Director, T-Mobile Czech Republic, Gernot Mittendorfer, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, Česká spořitelna, Mike Short, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, Plzeňský Prazdroj and  Jan Školník, Director and Co-owner, Hobra-Školník company.