Dr Pascal Dozie Chairman, Diamond Group Advisory Board and MTN Nigeria and new Co-Chair of the Commonwealth Business Council talks to the Nigerian Press about his plans for the Coming year.

Dr. Pascal Dozie is the Co-Chairman Commonwealth Business Council. He is not a stranger in this role as he was the former President Nigeria Stock Exchange, founding Member of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and pioneer Managing Director Diamond Bank PLC. In this interactive session with journalist in Lagos he unfolds the Commonwealth Business Council agenda for the continent and Nigeria.

Introduction
The Commonwealth Business Council,CBC was established by the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1997 with the mandate to involve the private sector in the promotion of trade and investment within the Commonwealth. CBC has set out its vision as “sharing global prosperity by making globalisation work for all with the mission of promoting global trade and investment with an enhanced role for the private sector in commonwealth countries.

Membership of the council
The Commonwealth comprises 53 nations across four continents. Its member nations represent almost a third of the world’s population and a fifth of all global trade. Its members range from some of the most developed and affluent countries through to various emerging markets and include many of the poorest nations on earth. The economies of its member nations comprise a unique range of history and development that lends itself to mutual cooperative endeavours.

Goals of the council
The goals of the council are among others serve as a bridge to co-operation, communication and information between the private and public sectors in commonwealth countries thereby acting as partners in shaping globalization with equity and providing vibrant business to business linkages; promote global trade and mobilise investment flow between commonwealth countries by providing a bridge between the private sector and the governments, between developed and emerging markets, and between large and small businesses; facilitate Public-Private sector dialogue and joint action in issues that enhances trade and investment; and to advocate for the removal of barriers to trade, promotion of good governance, creating good environment for business investment and bridging the digital divide

Sir, give us a brief history of the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC)?
The Commonwealth is the political arm because in 1997, the Heads of the Commonwealth countries, the 53 of them, but now, after the last CHOGOM in Trinidad and Tobago, Rwanda was admitted as the 54th country of the Commonwealth of nations. So, at the meeting, they decided that given that the Commonwealth constitutes about a third of the world’s population and 20 per cent of the world’s trade and given that most of them have a commonality of legal system, language and other things in common, they could use those things they have in common to promote economic development within the Commonwealth.

And to do this, they agreed that among them, that the engine of growth should be the private sector and therefore they had to set up an instrument for carrying these things out, an instrument which will help them create development and growth within all the countries of the Commonwealth and at the same time, in the promotion of investment between the Commonwealth countries and other countries that are not within the Commonwealth and also between the more developed countries and less developed countries of the Commonwealth.

Furthermore, to see how the Commonwealth countries will benefit from globalization. This is the essence of the Commonwealth Business Council. And then, you have Commonwealth Business Council, which is supposed to be the private sector arm of the Commonwealth. Since 1997, Commonwealth Business Council has been in existence. It is run by a secretariat and a board.

Because of the area and size, how it is stretched for instance, from Canada, the Bahamas down to South Africa, down to Australia, down to New Zealand to the 54 countries, we needed to have more than one person to chair the organisation, because usually, if there is any event being carried out in any of the countries, it might be necessary for the chairman to be there. Just one man doing that, might create problems for himself.

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