ICC, UN & partners
As global challenges become more complex and interconnected, the need for effective international cooperation has never been greater. At the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, ICC called for a more effective model of collaboration – one that brings governments, business and international organisations together to turn shared priorities into practical solutions.
This year’s UNGA theme, “Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all,” closely reflects ICC’s message that international cooperation must evolve to deliver tangible results.
Across discussions on crisis response, humanitarian action, multilateralism, climate and AI, ICC highlighted the distinctive contribution business can make – from mobilising capital and expertise to developing solutions and delivering them at scale.
Here are six key priorities from ICC’s engagement at UNGA.
Speaking to close to 20 foreign ministers, deputy ministers and vice ministers at a high-level side event on global food security, ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO warned that disruption to critical trade routes is placing already fragile food systems under growing strain.
Mr Denton called for early, coordinated action to restore grain flows through the Black Sea before storage capacity is reached, stressing that delays could threaten food availability and affordability far beyond the region. Drawing on ICC’s role in supporting the 2022 Black Sea Grain Initiative, which enabled nearly 33 million tonnes of grain and food products to reach global markets, he highlighted how trade can be a powerful humanitarian tool when backed by political cooperation.
“The lesson from the Black Sea experience is clear: preventing a food crisis is far easier than responding to one. The time to act is before the impacts are visible, not after they are felt.”
ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO
Mr Denton also drew on ICC’s experience of the initiative during a high level conversation at Devex Impact House. He highlighted ICC’s engagement on a proposed mechanism for the Strait of Hormuz, underscoring the practical role business can play in crisis response – from keeping food and agricultural inputs moving to ensuring access to the insurance, financing and trade mechanisms needed to operate in disrupted markets.
Following his attendance at the UNGA opening session, ICC Chair Harsh Pati Singhania addressed participants of Roundtable on Business Leadership for Resilience in Times of Crisis hosted by ICC and OCP Group.
“The challenge before us is not simply to respond to shocks more effectively, but to build systems that are resilient by design. That requires a new model of collaboration – one that is more systemic, more scalable, and more action-oriented than the ad hoc approaches that too often emerge in moments of crisis. Governments and international institutions often cannot see or manage increasingly complex parts of the global economy. But businesses can.”
Harsh Pati Singhania, ICC Chair
Together with the United Nations Foundation, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and ServiceNow, ICC convened leaders from the public and private sectors to explore how stronger private sector engagement can improve preparedness and crisis response.
Taking place between UN High Level Meetings for the 40th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development and for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, The Humanitarian Reset panel and dinner gathered guests to build and solidify partnerships which contribute to a more effective and efficient aid system.
Debunking a myth that the public and private sectors have fundamentally different goals in humanitarian response, ICC First Vice-Chair Rebecca Enonchong said there was a need for greater understanding of each other’s language, processes and strengths.
“The humanitarian community wants to deliver impact at scale and speed. Businesses want to solve problems, mobilize resources and deliver results efficiently. Those objectives are highly complementary.”
ICC First Vice-Chair Rebecca Enonchong
Speaking at a high-level roundtable convened by ICC and the United Nations Foundation, Mr Denton stressed that the scale and complexity of today’s global challenges require governments, business, international organisations and other stakeholders to work together in new ways.
During his intervention, Mr Denton pointed to Rethinking Multilateralism: A New Role for the Private Sector, a report produced by ICC and IE University, which explores how the private sector can play a more active role in addressing global challenges.
He highlighted the need to move from consultation towards shared responsibility and accountability, with new mechanisms to mobilise private capital, expertise and innovation at the scale required.
“The future of international cooperation depends on a different model of partnership. One based not on consultation alone, but on collaboration. Not on participation alone, but on shared responsibility. Not on dialogue alone, but on delivery.”
ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO
The economic potential of AI will depend not simply on access to technology, but on the conditions that enable businesses to turn access into opportunity.
This was ICC’s message to a roundtable hosted by The Economist Group and TikTok on generating opportunity by harnessing AI in the new digital economy. Mr Denton said it was vital for to ensure SMEs have the skills, infrastructure, investment, partnerships and supportive policy environment to adopt AI and scale its benefits.
Building trust will be critical to widespread adoption, he said pointing to practical safeguards – around privacy, data protection, cybersecurity – and responsible use, alongside interoperable standards, as essential to helping businesses and other users engage with AI with greater confidence while avoiding unnecessary fragmentation across markets.
Speaking at the Digital Ambassadors Forum on Tech Diplomacy, bringing together public and private decision-makers to advance digital cooperation, Mr Denton called for interoperability to be built into digital policy from the outset, urging early private sector involvement to ensure rules support trusted cross-border data flows, innovation and participation by smaller companies.
At the COP31 Business Forum New York Dialogue, ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO highlighted ICC’s role as the official focal point for business and voice of the real economy in international climate negotiations. The event was co-hosted by Bloomberg and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), led by its President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, who also serves as Chair of the ICC World Chambers Federation.
Ahead of COP31 in Antalya in November, Mr Denton called for greater focus on the practical conditions needed to turn climate ambition into implementation – including stable and predictable policy frameworks, open markets, interoperable standards and greater access to finance.
“We do not need another long list of declarations. We need to remove the obstacles to action. Governments provide the policy certainty. Finance helps price and share risk. Business brings the technology, capital and implementation capacity. If we bring those three together, we can move from commitments to projects — and from projects to scale.”
ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO
The discussions at UNGA come as ICC approaches the 10th anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s historic decision to grant ICC Observer Status – giving the private sector a direct voice in the work of the General Assembly. Having held General Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council since 1946, ICC formally took up observer status on 1 January 2017 and has since brought the expertise and experience of business into a broad range of discussions from plastic pollution to international taxation and through initiatives such as the Black Sea Grain Initiative which facilitated the export of nearly 33 million tonnes of grain and food products to global markets.
“ICC’s observer status at the UN General Assembly, together with its engagement across the WTO, G20, and BRICS, is a clear example of how private sector voices can help shape global resilience frameworks.”
Harsh Pati Singhania, ICC Chair
Speaking at a high-level gathering of nearly 50 government and international organisation representatives at the United Nations, ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO warned that disruption to critical trade routes is placing already fragile food systems under growing strain.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is seeking greater private sector involvement in Gaza's recovery. The call was made during a high-level dialogue with the United Nations (UN) and regional business leaders this week aiming to support humanitarian assistance and long-term economic development following the announced ceasefire.
ICC is supporting a new confidence-building mechanism developed by the UN Secretary-General’s Strait of Hormuz Task Force to facilitate safe, orderly and predictable maritime transit through one of the world’s most critical trade routes.
