The Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) provides leadership in increasing international trade and investment flows, creating new business opportunities, promoting good governance and corporate social responsibility, reducing the digital divide and integrating developing countries into the global market. In fulfilling its mission, CBC strives to provide a bridge between the private sector and governments, between emerging markets and developed markets and between small businesses and international private sector.

CBC’s goal is to achieve economic empowerment for shared global prosperity through the enhancement of private sector contribution to social and economic development.

Today we also address the following four challenges, working in partnership with Commonwealth governments and the private sector.

Changing perceptions
Many Commonwealth countries offer good investment opportunities but suffer from popular misconceptions, uneven media coverage and failure to promote their economic strengths to important external audiences.

The CBC is well placed to work with governments and investors to bring focus to their sound fundamentals and the investment opportunities that these countries represent.

Globalisation
With the growth of the global economy, national and regional boundaries are losing their relevance. Countries must increasingly take a more global view of opportunities for growth.

The CBC, as a microcosm of the wider international economic community, can help countries cope, drawing on its close relationships with business and governments, and its mission to share knowledge and experience.

Technology and skills
The application of new technology is a key ingredient of economic success - more important in the long term than mere money. But technological advancement can happen only if information access systems are available to those with vision and enterprise to seek out and develop opportunities. Commonwealth co-operation through the exchange of skills and knowledge can help overcome that divide.

For example, the CBC plans to deliver programmes for skills development and capacity building in partnership with training institutions such as Cambridge University, Aston University and City & Guilds International.

The Commonwealth Factor
The Commonwealth legacy has equipped member countries with affinities in language, legal systems, and administrative procedures and political outlook - the "Commonwealth Factor". This goes a long way towards ensuring that members are prepared to function individually or as a group in the fast-moving global context.

Governments and the private sector have demonstrated that this relatively homogenous trading group is also capable of drawing investment from non-Commonwealth states including the United States, Japan and the countries of Europe.

Our main objective is to help developing countries and their private sector attain a standard that enables them to play a proper role in globalisation. If we contribute to this process even to a small degree, we will have achieved our purpose.