Karan Bhatia talks about strengthening ‘rule of law’

Hello GE Reports. This is Karan Bhatia, the vice president and senior counsel of international law and policy at GE. I’d like to talk to you about strengthening the “rule of law,” a concept that means countries have legal and judicial systems that afford companies certainty in doing business there.

Before joining GE earlier this year, I served as the Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, overseeing U.S. trade relations with the countries of East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa. That experience highlighted for me the critical importance of rule of law to international trade and development. Today, as the leader responsible for GE’s international relations and public policy, I am pleased that working to strengthen the rule of law, especially in emerging markets, is a core goal of GE’s public policy agenda.

I have always been deeply impressed by a hallmark of GE’s culture — our commitment to the highest ethical and compliance standards. That commitment is a natural fit with our policy efforts to enhance rule of law. It is an important, but challenging, task. While we have seen many positive developments in rule of law globally over the past two decades, we still see many areas for improvement. That’s why GE is continuing to engage vigorously to address this issue.

I’m pleased to share how we are working with governments and other partners to assess needs, build on GE’s core strengths, and find ways to deploy our resources to attain results that strengthen our company, our customers, our partners, and the world.

You can find more information here.

Also, if you’re still interested on rule of law policies, you might be interested in exploring the following links.

* My full perspective on promoting rule of law
* More about citizenship at GE
* More about GE Foundation public policy initiatives