The leader of one of the Arab world's largest service firms is calling for legislation encouraging companies in the Middle East to bemore socially responsible.

Talal Abu Ghazaleh, president and founder of Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization, said companies are not doing enough to fulfill their obligations as stewards for their communities and country. This is partly due to the lack of laws designed to promote corporate social responsibility, Ghazaleh said at the 3rd Annual CSR Conference organized by the Ministry of Business and Trade, Qatar.

He wants laws that would provide tax deductions and other perks for investing, contributing and donating to CSR programs and organizations. The process should also be transparent, so those that are involved are recognized publicly and those who aren't involved are also exposed.

Companies that are successful should put some of the money derived from that success back into the communities. According to Ghazaleh, the amount a company should spend depends on its success. The more profitable the company, the more responsible they should be for giving back to the community that made them a success.

Ghazaleh went on to say that no government has the ability to completely provide for its people and society. This is especially true during times of economic strife, such as now. Many times, governments fail to provide necessary programs and resources to those that need them because of their own monetary problems. It's the responsibility of the corporate world to pick up the slack and provide for those in need.

Ghazaleh's organization, The Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org), is the largest Arab group of professional service firms in the fields of accounting; external audit; internal audit; corporate governance; taxation; educational consultancy; economic and strategic studies; management advisory services; professional and technical training; technology transfer; project management; real estate management; investors and business advisory; human resources and recruitment; e-government; e-commerce; e-education; information technology (IT), security audit; web mastering and web design; professional interpretation and translation; website arabization; domain names registration; information and communication technology (ICT) strategic planning; ERP consulting; IT and Internet skills training and examinations; Intellectual Property (IP) news agency; IP business, asset valuation and branding; IP registration and protection; IP renewals; IP rights protection and management; legal services; and public offering, according to its website.