The Council for Better Corporate Citizenship (CBCC), which is the independent CSR organisation of Keidanren (the Japanese Business Federation), recently visited Jakarta and Singapore on a study mission from 23 to 27 November.

During the visit, they met up with Indonesia Business Links. Coverage of the visit can be found here.

The CBCC was accompanied by delegates from the private sector, which included members from Sompo Japan Niponkon Insurance, Omron, Ajinomoto, ANA Holdings, Sony and Asahi Glass.

The delegates met up with ASEAN CSR Network (ACN) on Wednesday, 25 November 2015, where ACN’s Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao gave them an overview of CSR trends globally as well as in ASEAN.


Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao presenting for ASEAN CSR Network

Ms. Nguyen addressed what the challenges and opportunities were for CSR in ASEAN. She highlighted the progress of CSR in ASEAN’s agenda where the regional grouping recently included CSR, not only in the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint, but also in the ASEAN Political-Security Community and ASEAN Economic Community Blueprints 2016-2025. Previously, CSR was only mentioned in the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint. (ACN will be writing an article on the significance of this in the coming weeks).

Delegates from CBCC and private organisations from Japan at the meeting with ACN

The Japanese delegation also gave a presentation. Mr. Masao Seki, the Steering Committee Chairman of CBCC, discussed CBCC’s CSR activities and dialogue missions overseas. He also shared CSR trends in Japan. 

Mr. Adam Ichikawa, Section Manager, CSR Department of Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc, gave an overview of the group’s brief CSR history and how they have been involved in the community in partnership with NGOs/NPOs (Non-profit organisations).

There was also time for a Q&A session where topics discussed included

• if new regulations relating to CSR will be adopted now that CSR has been mentioned in all three ASEAN Community Blueprints 2016-2025
• the increasing attention on human trafficking of migrant workers
• enquiries about the role of corporate partners with respect to the Anti-Corruption Working Group
• extraterritorial jurisdiction of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act