Rio Tinto boss says multinational companies should become good citizens

President of Rio Tinto Indonesia Noke Kiroyan said multinational companies, as members of the society, should boost transparency and commitment to society, environment and economic development.

"Sustainable development is not only the goal of the mining industry, but is also part of our legacy to our children and future generation," Noke said in his speech titled "Corporate Citizens in Multinational Business" during the Mining and Indonesian Mining and Energy Conference of 2000 at the Kemayoran Fairgrounds in Jakarta on Thursday.

Noke noted that in this globalization era, no state and company is an island.

Stakeholders, including shareholders, governments, non-governmental organizations always emphasize that multinational companies have been to be responsible for their actions.

Mining industry has often been criticized particularly for the unequal distribution of their earnings, Noke said.

Because of this, he said mining industry should be critical of itself and identify the sectors into which they can make contributions, especially in the social, economic and environmental fields as part of its participation in the sustainable development.

The demand for multinational companies to be responsible in their actions was universal, Noke said, but such a demand was voiced louder in the developing countries.

This was because the people in the developing countries had greater needs and generally there was big gap in the welfare of the workers of the mining companies and the people living around the mines, he said.

Mining companies should be aware of this situation, Noke said. (*)