Final Statement of the Fair Trade Conference

In light of the recent circumstances and with the participation of local farmers’ cooperatives and fair trade organizations and associations from Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, France, Netherlands and Palestine, the Fair Trade Department of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) held an international conference on the subject of fair trade from 26th to 29th of November 2006 in Al-Zababdeh, Jenin, under the motto “Fair Trade Conference for Peace and Sustainable Development in Palestine”. During the conference worksheets were presented by experts, academics and officials in order to highlight the role of fair trade in realizing peace and sustainable development in Palestine. These were then comprehensively debated and discussed by all participants of the conference. The participants agreed that there were numerous objectives which should be obtained through joint efforts and cooperation among all members of the International Federation for Fair Trade (IFAT).

1. Fair trade is a means for conveying a political message against occupation and a means of solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom and independence.
2. There should be real efforts to establish a Fair Trade Forum in Palestine to enhance Palestinian involvement with international fair trade organizations. It is necessary to develop the internal mechanisms of fair trade and to found a fair trade committee with the participation of all relevant parties. This will help in following up the pricing mechanism and in ensuring fair prices for Palestinian agricultural products in the international market. This step could contribute to the development of fair trade on international level.
3. A clear principle should be adopted for setting prices for various products by creating a minimum limit for prices based upon the production cost and the cost of daily life in each country.
4. An international fund for the purpose of supporting fair trade should be created by discounting a percentage of the profit of global fair trade. It should be assured that the role of fair trade is that of its concept; mainly to assist and support marginalized small-scale farmers and producers, handicraftsmen and cooperatives in poor countries. The aim is to improve the quality of their products and facilitate their reach for new markets.
5.Fair trade organizations should initiate lobbying campaigns to improve the conditions of international trade agreements and to deal with Palestine as a unique situation. Additionally, there should be an attempt to decrease Palestinian economic dependency upon Israel and to boost the idea of fair trade with Palestine by targeting the Palestinians living in Israel and with just peace movements who agree with the legitimate political rights of the Palestinian population. Likewise, the Israeli trickery in terms of marketing the Palestinian products as Israeli should be taken into consideration.
6. A recommendation should be directed to the Palestinian Legislative Council in order to enact a law concerning fair trade and to approve a policy perceiving the cooperative method as the foremost method in the process of agricultural development in Palestine.
7. There should be campaigns to raise awareness around fair trade on different local levels and to develop market researches, information exchange and the use of media. In addition, there should be cooperation with national universities to include fair trade as an independent course in the departments of business and economics.
8. The role of fair trade should be developed to constitute a means of solidarity, sustainable development, and a social, economical and cultural alternative in opposition to the destructive forces of capitalism and globalization. Fair trade should be a symbol for humanity and justice values and this should be the focus point of the second fair trade conference.
9. We should bear in mind that some international companies are trying to distort the image of fair trade by wearing the mask of fair trade organizations.
10. Fair trade should focus upon the cooperatives of producers and consumers to help them expand their operation and become capable of exporting and importing products.
11. There should be regular regional and international conferences for fair trade organizations. Our conference should be regarded as the first one and the second should be held after two years; moreover, a local and network for fair trade should be founded.
12. Productive women should be organized in cooperatives and their role should be furthered on the level of fair trade organizations.
13. There should be joint efforts to add to the mechanisms of information exchange, the mutual relationships among fair trade organizations, trust among members and between producers and consumers.
14. There should be a marketing plan for Palestinian olive oil. Also, we should support the Palestinian infrastructure to increase the production of organic olive oil.