Foreign Minister at Fair Trade press conference

Vienna, 7 May 2008 – "Fair Trade is development policy and foreign policy in practice. It is the modern expression of the principle underlying any sustainable, successful aid, namely personal responsibility. What is important is both the creation of necessary structures and the conscious involvement of the people - and that goes for both developing countries and donor countries," stated Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik at the annual Fair Trade press conference at the Meierei in Vienna’s Stadtpark, which is now offering Fair Trade coffee.

"Fair Trade is in the vanguard, showing us that fair trade is possible in practice in our everyday lives! It is a success story: supermarket shelves without Fair Trade products are now unthinkable. The principle is simple: by buying Fair Trade products, any individual can make an active contribution to reducing poverty and improving the living conditions of people in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The objective is to create concrete future perspectives, as this is the only way of achieving long-term poverty reduction. Austrian Development Cooperation has been supporting this work since 1996 for good reason and the Foreign Ministry has also been a Fair Trade coffee partner for a long time now," stated Plassnik. Last year alone, the Foreign Ministry bought and consumed some 400 kg of Fair Trade coffee.

"Fair Trade provides security and confidence. It enables farmers to have a secure income by guaranteeing minimum prices and minimum social standards, and paves the way for economic independence," stated the Foreign Minister. Fair Trade also makes various aspects of development cooperation visible by extending its support to social programmes in the fields of health and education as well. "Fair Trade also protects the environment against exploitation and depletion by aiding small farmers. In this way our natural resources are preserved for tomorrow. As Foreign Minister it is also important to me that the position of women as partners in development cooperation is strengthened, which is among the objectives pursued by Fair Trade," affirmed Plassnik.

"We need initiatives like Fair Trade. This is impressively demonstrated by the current global food crisis. The pictures of the riots bred by hunger in Haiti or Ethiopia are an alarm signal, calling for Austria’s solidarity as a response. I have sent out a clear signal on behalf of the Foreign Ministry: under the Austrian Development Cooperation programme we are making one million euros available for the four countries most severely affected: Namibia, Haiti, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia," stated Plassnik. At the suggestion of the Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management the Federal Government had pledged 2,790,000 euros for the UN’s World Food Programme. The funds approved today will be used for food aid in the narrower sense, the financing of agricultural means of production and the funding of FAO development projects.

"The principles underlying our Development Cooperation programme are their long-term nature and sustainability. What is important is helping people to help themselves. The goal is to ensure that the population can produce their own food and pursue their own course into a better future, without being at the mercy of natural disasters and state structures. The current hunger riots are triggered not only by a lack of food but also by an unjust social situation, and in some countries by poor governance. Austria can offer a great deal of expertise, particularly in the field of responsible management of agricultural resources such as stock-keeping and transport, and can contribute towards reducing deficiencies in the countries concerned," concluded Plassnik.

Contact:

Federal Ministry for
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