The World Fair Trade Week has been a unique event that took place in Milan from 23 to 31 May 2015. International Fair Trade activities were organised during the week-long celebration like the WFTO Conference, Fair Trade International Symposium, International Fair Trade Expo, fashion show, and many more.
See the official brochure in english here.
Milan was nominated the ‘Global Capital of Fair Trade’ during the celebration as it hosted hundreds of fair traders and Fair Trade Organisations worldwide. The 7-day event focused on the innovative meaning of Fair Trade, through the concept of “responsibility.” Artisans, farmers, marketers, promoters and advocates arrived from all over the world to share their experiences, and incorporated a perspective of “domestic” Fair Trade as well. The participating Fair Trade Organisations ensured product excellence and quality, virtuous supply-chains and true development to “feed” the world. These organisations and individuals are the leading actors of what Fair Trade means.
EXPO Milano 2015, the Universal Exposition, whose official theme is ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’, created an important opportunity to discuss topics connected to the Fair Trade movement: the global production and distribution of food as well as sustainable development. WFTO-Europe endorsed a Position Paper that the Italian Fair Trade Movement elaborated on the Expo theme. This paper aims to stress the crucial role that politics and trade play in the fight against food hunger while avoiding any direct antagonisms or polemics with the Expo approach to the topic.
This weeklong initiative has been an innovative contribution, and gave direct voice to the representatives of thousands of communities of artisans and farmers in Asia, Latin America and Africa, and to those who seek to rewrite the rules of trade based on social and environmental sustainability. The goal was to restore the centrality of producers’ dignity at all latitudes and at the same time propose new solutions for citizens.
The World Fair Trade Week has been organized by WFTO, AGICES – Equo Garantito, and WFTO-Europe.
Below you can find the conference report, workshop presentations, videos and photos of the conference:
3. Conference videos: WFTO YouTube channel, WFTWeek YouTube channel
