HRH The Prince of Wales Encourages Community Involvement of Companies

Prince Charles highly estimates Bulgaria's foreign policy and advices Bulgarian businesses to be active in community projects. He states that in his letter addressed to the Chairman of BBLF, Mr. Maxim Behar. He read the letter at the BBLF discussion on the topic "Community Involvement and Volunteer Work in the Corporate Sector", which took place on July 15, 2003, at the Radisson SAS Grand Hotel.

Mr. Bill Drysdale, Advisor to the Prime Minister's Office and former chairman of BBLF, presented the ENGAGE project, which aims at increasing the extent and quality of employee engagement in the development of healthy and sustainable communities. Mr. Drysdale mentioned examples of community projects developed by leading companies around the world. According to him, there is a tendency towards involvement on all levels of the corporate hierarchy, rather than purely financial support determined at the managerial level.

Representatives of Shell Bulgaria, ADIS, and Radisson SAS Grand Hotel presented their programs for community involvement and volunteer work. Many of the participants in the discussion, including the managers of HP, Nokia, Unilever, TNT and Sofiiska Voda, mentioned examples from their projects in support of children and disadvantaged people, and for the preservation of environmental and historical sites.