Problems of Trust in Business Discussed During 3rd Ecumenical Social Week

The director of the World Bank for Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova, Martin Raiser, was a special guest of the Ecumenical Social Week, which is held in Lviv. In his report on trust, he noted: "the lack of trust in post-socialist countries is due to the long period of life in stress due to relentless work of the KGB and other similar institutions."

"A person could trust no one but themselves," the guest said. According to him, "extended trust is a critical element of the concept of social capital, which can explain excellent economic results at the level of entire individual societies and economies."

The round table "Trust as the Basis of Development of an Effective Business" was also attended by the owners and top managers of non-governmental public organizations and
leading foreign specialists including doctor of philosophy, director of non-profit administrative programs of the Notre Dame University (USA), Mark Hardy. The guest spoke about the problem of trust of businesses for mass media and their influence on development of trust for business.

Relying on the modern realia of the American society, Hardy noted that only positive comments in the free press can attract attention of investors to a company. "We should
have the supremacy of law and a strong state but we also should have free press able to monitor the ethicality of business activities," he noted.