100 World Food Producers Meet In London As World Leaders Talk Trade In Cancun
5 September 2003
One hundred producers of cocoa, coffee, fruit, honey, rice, sugar and tea from 30 developing countries around the world, meeting in London 9-12 September, will send a message to the Fifth WTO (World Trade Organisation) Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico (10-14 September) that trade should be used to promote development. The producers, who supply the international Fairtrade market, will say Fairtrade should be the template for all world trade.
Producers including Sri Lankan tea growers and Tanzanian coffee producers will be attending the World Fairtrade Forum, organised by Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO), of which the Fairtrade Foundation is the UK partner. This is the second ever international working meeting to discuss the policies and practices behind the FAIRTRADE Mark , the only independent guarantee that producers in developing countries have received a fair price for their produce.
"World trade rules are currently topsy-turvy, protecting the rich and leaving the poor vulnerable," says Harriet Lamb, Director of the Fairtrade Foundation and FLO board member. "The WTO Development Round in Cancun must be about policy interventions and regulations which put development goals first. Fairtrade shows that with the right rules in place, trade can both facilitate development and be commercially viable."
At special sessions to discuss what is happening simultaneously at Cancun, the producers at the FLO Forum will say that Fairtrade is an economic model that demands serious attention.
"I'm worried that Cancun might result in more low prices and more suffering for farmers. The maximisation of trade, which caused coffee prices to drop, does not lead to poverty reduction. It leads to the opposite," says John Kanjagaile, Export Manager, Kagera Co-operative Union, Tanzania, who will attend the Forum. "Fairtrade can be an economic model, farmers' organisations supplying to Fairtrade are showing that they can compete with some of the world's biggest multinationals, in some of the world's most cut-throat commodities and survive, as well as investing in their communities."
John will also be one of the panellists at a Question Time-style debate entitled Fair Trade Rules to be held on the evening of 8 September. The 'free trade vs fair trade' debate will launch the Forum and give the public and Fairtrade supporters the chance to debate the issues surrounding Cancun with trade experts.
Other members of the panel will include Valerie Amos, Secretary of State, Department for International Development, who will represent Britain at Cancun, and Robert Davies, Chief Executive Officer, Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum.
UK sales of FAIRTRADE Marked products rose by 90 per cent between 2000 and 2002 to an estimated retail value of £63m. Overall international sales increased by 21 per cent by volume in 2002, in the 17 countries with FLO member organisations.
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Notes to Editors
- The first World Fairtrade Forum organised by Fairtrade Labelling Organisation International (FLO) took place in Germany in 2001. FLO, co-ordinated from Bonn, Germany, operates a unique labelling system, with the participation of producers and traders, in setting common international certification standards.
- The Fair Trade Rules Question Time debate will take place at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8EP, on Monday 8 September 2003, doors open 6.30pm - 9.00pm, Question Time 7.00pm - 8.30pm.
- FLO delegates will include Fairtrade tea farmer Juliet Ntwirenabo from Igara Growers in Uganda, who entered the Fairtrade market in 1998. "Since we became Fairtrade farmers our women no longer die in childbirth being carried down the mountain to the hospital. From our Fairtrade proceeds we have built two maternity wards, and a water tank to supply 200 families with drinking water. Before Fairtrade they had to fetch stagnant water. The message is to buy more Fairtrade tea," says Juliet.
- Internationally, there are now some 360 registered groups in 45 countries, representing some 4.5 million producers and their families selling their goods under Fairtrade terms, through over 600 traders across 17 consumer countries.
- Countries with FLO member organisations are Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.
- The Fairtrade Foundation is a member of the Trade Justice Movement (TJM). TJM, supported by 50 organisations, campaigns for fundamental change to the unjust rules and institutions governing international trade, so that trade is made to work for all. For further information, visit www.tjm.org.uk
- FLO would like to thank the following for their generous support of the FLO Forum 2003 - Triodos Bank, European Commission, The King Baudouin Foundation and the Commonwealth Foundation.