Cooperation is easier and conflicts are limited when people share convictions. We therefore need to look for ethical principles that are shared worldwide: global ethics. Standards and values are an integral part of any culture; hence, culture is the bedrock supporting every development. Culture can obstruct progress, but it can nevertheless be a tool for emancipation. Culture is also a goal in itself: it gives meaning to our existence. The same holds true for equal rights, responsibility for future generations, freedom of speech, and democracy: they stimulate progress, but are also the objective of development. 
This is one of the themes being tracked by 'Power of Culture', a website about culture and development.

http://www.powerofculture.nl/en/theme/ethics.html