"Sustainable development" is defined as the development that does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, a general objective assumed by the entire Society. The companies form part of the Society, and are therefore responsible for achieving this common objective.

Initially (Rio de Janeiro Convention) most of the performance indicators used to demonstrate the contribution of the different acting parties in the achievement of these objectives, were environmental. Subsequently, other factors were taken into consideration such as energy efficiency, maximum performance attained from raw materials, better use of natural resources, that is to say, all that meant saving, due to which economic factors were incorporated along with the environmental ones. Taking into account that all of this would not make sense without the human and social factors, the three pillars which we currently call as the Corporate Social Responsibility of the companies, or in other words Sustainability, come into being.

There exist some definitions of what CSR is or should be. The European Commission puts forward the following definition: "A concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis." And, who are these interest groups? They are the individuals or social groups, with a legitimate interest, who find themselves affected by the present or future actions of the companies.

Corporate social responsibility is more than the compliance with laws and rules, giving its due respect and its strict fulfilment. To this effect, the labour laws and its relative regulations are the starting point. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), or Enterprise Social Responsibility (ESR), as it is also known, is the business strategy of the companies which takes into account all the aspects of their activities and operations may have on their clients, employees, shareholders, local communities, environment and on the society in general. The CSR is not exclusively an exercise that has been known as a "social act". It is relevant to say that the CSR is not a new requirement of obligatory fulfilment by the companies.

The ports constitute one of the main sources of economic activities and employment of the country, and play a fundamental role in the economic activity of its environment. The Spanish ports have evolved over the last few years, increasing, if anything, their impact on the economic activity and integrating themselves into the cities where they are located. CSR also fits into the framework of this evolution that the ports are undergoing, providing a new perspective in order to make economic activity complementary and compatible with sustainable development, uniting the social and human aspects with the economic and environmental aspects. As the port of Cartagena is one of the most important infrastructures of the Spanish Levante (the regions of Murcia and Valencia), and as such, cannot be separated from this development; hence it takes the initiative to promote the integration of CSR into the activities of the companies and people that form the Port Community.

During the ordinary meeting that took place on February 19th of this year, the Board of Directors of this Port Authority approved the creation of the CSR Committee of the Port of Cartagena, formed by the following supervisors:

Coordinator:
Head of the Safety and Environment Division

Committee members:
Operations Department Manager
Planning Department Manager
Commercial Department Manager
Head of Information Systems and Management Control
Human Resources Manager
Economic Financial Manager
General Secretary Department Manager


The main task of this Committee is to prepare the "Sustainability Report", taking into account that the VALUE of the APC is devising the mentioned report. The process is developed in 5 phases:

1^st.- IDENTIFY
Define what it is that we want to achieve.

We would like to edit a report in order to inform our Interest Groups about the activities undertaken, the results obtained and the marked objectives. With this we want to win the confidence of the VALUED proprietors (employees, clients, suppliers, Administration, local residents, NGO's, media .). For this purpose we must start by identifying the Interest Groups. An Interest Group consists of a group of individuals, with common interests, who are affected by our activity, or those whose activity has an influence upon us. They can be classified according to their direct relation (contractual relations) or indirect relation (residents associations, ecological groups.).

2^nd.- CONNECT
Once the Interest Groups have been identified, a framework to connect with them has to be chosen, so as to gather their expectations and needs. New challenges and opportunities for improvement may also arise from these contacts.

3^rd.- DEFINE
Define what is to be contained in the report, according to the detected expectations and needs, and the information gathered during the contacts made.

4^th.- MONITOR
Choose the adequate indicators of economic, social and environmental performance once we know what it is that we want to tell, and then begin to collect data.

5^th.- COMMUNICATE
We will select the format of the report and how we would like to communicate it, so that it reaches correctly and adequately to all our interest groups. At present, the CSR Committee of the APC has concluded the work of the first phase and is already working on the second phase.