One of Standard & General's main aims is to foster responsible and transparent trade of raw materials (good governance) and a sustainable commodities industry that upholds human rights and complies with internationally recognized minimum social and environmental standards.

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Stable economic, social, and environmental frameworks and transparent financial flows and trading relationships help improve the conditions for trade and investment. Transparency plays an increasingly important role in the commodity sector; therefore, it is important to strengthen transparency initiatives further.

The safeguarding of raw materials cannot be a one-way street. It is essential to establish a reasonable balance between the countries' interests that produce raw materials and the countries that import them and develop this in mutual advantages. For this reason, Standard & General aims to establish greater transparency in the commodities sector.

Developing and emerging economies have deposits of numerous fossil and mineral raw materials, which are much sought after in the global market. Raw materials offer these countries enormous opportunities and potential to generate government revenue and finance for their sustainable development.

Opportunities arise to build local infrastructure and commercial structures to process locally and establish a domestic value chain to generate a component supplier sector and ultimately diversify the economy. The government revenue from the raw materials sector can help build up welfare systems (health and education) and thereby contribute to poverty reduction via the labor market and welfare benefits. 

Open raw materials markets, the environmentally compatible extraction of raw materials, and increased welfare due to enhanced transparency and economic development are of significant importance to Standard & General.