As you can read in this year's report, we are making progress with our company-wide corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy and initiatives. In 2007, we established four key areas of focus: healthy living, sustainable trade, climate action and community engagement. These are areas where we believe we can make the greatest contribution to the lives of our customers, employees and suppliers and have a positive impact on the environment and communities we serve.

Our operating companies in Europe and the United States have programs underway in each area, and have integrated CSR into their daily business practices. To measure our performance, we are developing business targets as well as indicators in line with the internationally-recognized Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework.

Starting this year, we will publish our CSR report annually instead of every second year, and at the same time as our Annual Report. As CSR issues become more important in our business and our industry, we are devoting more resources to addressing the challenges we face. As a result, I have assigned responsibility for CSR at Ahold to Peter Wakkie, our Chief Corporate Governance Counsel and member of the Corporate Executive Board. We share learnings across Ahold, formally and informally, and participate enthusiastically with industry organizations and others to seek solutions to complex problems such as climate change.

We still have a great deal to do - and a lot to learn. We are working hard to meet the needs of society. We are committed to operating in a way that will improve the quality of life for our stakeholders, now and in the future.

I hope you find this report useful and I look forward to updating you on the progress we make this year in next year's report.