§ Mr. LyonsTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance her Department is giving to the promotion of fair trade. [84501]
§ Clare ShortThrough the Development Awareness Fund, DFID has provided £120,000 to the Fairtrade Foundation (FTF) over three years (2001–03) in support of its efforts to target new consumers through its annual Fairtrade Fortnight campaigns. The Fortnight is designed to highlight the positive developmental impacts of fair trade and the range of fair trade products on offer.
DFID is also funding a project that addresses a recognised bottleneck within fair trade—namely the limited number of products for which international fair trade standards exist. This project (at a total cost of £300,000) aims to develop five new product standards, secure the registration of 20 new producer groups and help bring an additional 20 new fair trade products to supermarket shelves over the next two years. The target is to increase the retail value of fair trade sales in the UK to over £100 million by 2004, and by so doing, extend the benefits of fair trade to a greater number of producers in developing countries. By expanding the scale of fair trade activities, the project also aims to secure a sustainable future for the FTF, so that its core operational costs (including the cost of subsequent product development) are fully funded from the income it receives from licensees.
DFID's support to the FT movement is part of a broader programme to encourage wider adoption of ethical trading codes and standards by major transnational corporations, and continuing efforts to reform the international trading system.