Can business contribute to peace? If so, how could we businessmen play a constructive role in peace building?

“Peace is the natural effect of trade,” said Charles de Montesquieu, French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Enlightenment. Put differently, wherever and whenever there is trade, there should also be peace. But is this really true? To understand this better we may have look at the reasons for the genesis of World War I and Europe’s post-World War II experience.

In 1914, contemporary European politicians, soldiers, and civilians thought that the war would last for only few weeks. After all, the European nations' trade amongst themselves was so high that they considered themselves completely inter-dependent on each other. Little did they expect that the war would last 4 years and cost the lives over 10 million people. But it did, and it changed the course of human history.

After the trauma of World War 2, Europeans were determined not to allow another conflict to take place on their soil. Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands created the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris. The European Coal and Steel Community was aimed to prevent further war amongst European countries by “making war not only unthinkable but materially impossible.” The community placed French and German production of coal and steel as a whole under common control, as these resources were critical for a nation to wage a war. Sharing such resources were more than a symbolic step to build peace between historic enemies. In effect it became the world’s first “supra-national organization.”

Over a period of time other countries joined the community. The final goal was to create a united Europe so that there should never be another war in the future. And what started as a humble experiment to forswear war, we know today as the European Union.

Europe has taught us that peace is not a natural outcome of trade but rather that peace is a natural outcome of sharing of resources. Closer to home, I work for Ssangyong Motors. A majority stake of Ssangyong Motors was acquired by Mahindra & Mahindra, a major India conglomerate, in March of this year. The investment made by Mahindra was the largest investment by an Indian company in East Asia. Ssangyong and Mahindra are now bonded together as a family. We strongly believe that we will succeed in not only making just profits, but also building a relationship between Korea and India.

Since India’s economic reform in 1991, trade between Korea and India has gradually increased over the last two decades. This is not just limited to merchandise trades, but also includes services and investments. For example, Korean conglomerates such as Hyundai, LG, and Samsung already realized the value of the Indian market, and entered during the late 1990’s. From 1981 to 2010, Korea’s investment in India amounted to 2.7 billion dollars. Indian companies have been investing in Korea quite aggressively over the last 2 years and the CEPA between India and Korea is expected to provide a tremendous impetus to trade and investment.

It is clear that trade and investment between Korea and India will only increase as trade barriers come down. We can expect to see Korean electronic and hardware industry co-operate with India's highly developed software industry. We may also expect such co-operation and collaboration in the pharmaceutical industry, broadcasting, tourism, and healthcare. All these sectors present enormous future potential for the two countries particularly when work together jointly.

The definition of resource is not only limited to commodities or raw materials, but also to human capital and infrastructure or systems. I will be honest; Mahindra decided to acquire SYMC because they saw enormous business synergy and opportunity. As I mentioned before, I am a businessman, and Mahindra is a corporation; yes, we do care about money. However, it is not just about making profits. I believe there is something more Mahindra and Ssangyong can do and contribute to both Korea and India. Mahindra's engineers based in India and Ssangyong's engineers based in Korea are working closely together to develop new car models.

The 2 companies are also working closely to provide each the access to the other's markets. Ssabgyong's Rexton, is expected to be produced in a Mahindra’s factory in India next year. We are also in the process of using and sharing Korean and Indian supplier’s networks to create a synergy. At a micro level, all of these represent sharing of resources between Ssangyong and Mahindra. At a macro level, these represent cooperation and collaboration between Korea and India.

Over the last few minutes, we touched on how trade and business have contributed to peace in Europe, Korea and India. We also touched on Mahindra and Ssangyong's profit-motivated activities that have the effect of promoting peace.
Getting back to our original question, is peace really a natural effect of trade? Well, I think trade alone does not ensure peace. Rather, it is the sharing of resources that safeguards peace. And business is an important tool that brings people together. A business' motivation is profit, but the side-effect of business is profound. It is promoting peace. And Ssangyong, Mahindra, and I are privileged to play that role.