In response to Malaysiakini's article "French hotel chain confronted with Penan rape" , Accor wishes to emphasize that in March 2009 it requested Interhill to commit to an improvement of its environmental and social standards.

The fact-finding mission ordered to Hugh Blackett was hence mutually organised by Accor and Interhill to assess the situation on the ground and make informed advice on how to change.

An Action Plan was then issued in September with an agenda of 25 measures that are publicly available on Interhill's website .

The initiatives that Accor has instigated to assist Interhill in improving relations with the Penan community and logging practices are unprecedented and deserve to be considered when commenting on Interhill's activities.

Accor believes that growth and development should always represent an opportunity and never a danger for our employees, customers, host countries and the environment.

The writer is the Accor’s vice-president of communications for Asia Pacific.