Our corporate responsibility policies and practices have matured over the past four years, in parallel to the overall development of the corporate responsibility field. For example, the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights are less than four years old. We have monitored this initiative as it has developed and have now incorporated the principles and recommendations found therein into our business practices, most notably in our revised Policy on Business Conduct and Ethics, which is our corporate responsibility framework.

Over this period of time, our corporate responsibility report has also matured, starting from a single country focused, social performance report to what is now a triple bottom line report of our global performance. Each year’s report has expanded in scope and depth, to a point where we believe that we have developed a structure that can be consistently used in future years. This will allow for proper benchmarking and analysis of our corporate responsibility performance in the years to come.

Moving forward, we need to continue to ensure that our corporate responsibility program and our corporate responsibility reporting are aligned with our business objectives. As described in this report, we strongly believe in the business case for corporate responsibility and reporting. However, there is more work to be done to more precisely quantify the benefits of these activities to our business.

Our stakeholders have an important role in this process and can help us ensure that our programs and reporting practices remain relevant. To solicit your valuable input on how best to address these issues, we have included a comment card with this report. Let us know how you think we are doing as well as how you think we can improve. Filling out this card also provides you with the opportunity to have your opinion on our programs and performance presented in the next Talisman corporate responsibility report as an unedited stakeholder comment. By working together, we believe we can make a positive difference wherever we operate.