" [1]13 February 2012 – Midrand, South Africa. The NEPAD Agency has signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with Fairtrade Africa, whose main task is to represent the interest of Fairtrade certified producers in Africa and to promote their socio-economic development through trade. In Africa, Fairtrade is working in 28 countries and with over 290 producer organisations, representing more than 600,000 individual farmes and workers who are involved in various value chains including coffee, cocoa, tea, vegetables, fruits, wine, cotton and seeds and nuts.
The signing ceremony took place on Friday the 3rd of February 2012, at the NEPAD Agency offices, Midrand, in South Africa. The MoU was signed by Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NEPAD Agency and Mr. Michael Kwame Nkonu, Executive Director (ED) of Fairtrade Africa.
Following several consultations between the NEPAD Agency and Fairtrade Africa, both parties agreed to strengthen their partnership in support of CAADP implementation. Through joint activities, NEPAD will be able to better access Fairtrade Africa’s extensive network in order to facilitate access of African smallholder farmers to high level markets, by connecting producers and consumers, promoting fairer trading conditions and empowering producers to combat poverty. In return, mainstreaming CAADP into Fairtrade will lead to the contribution of CAADP’s growth targets and agriculture-led development in Africa. Aligning the Fairtrade initiatives with NPCA’s value chain capacity development programme and the NEPAD Agribusiness and Trade Promotion Strategy will help contribute towards the realizations of this year’s 18th AU Summit theme, “Boosting Intra-African Trade”. “We need to change the way trade works in Africa. If we don’t trade amongst ourselves, we will not achieve the overall aim of Intra-African Trade” said Mr. Bankole Adeoye of NEPAD.
“Intra-African trade is an area of potential growth during these times of global economic crisis. Fairtrade Africa is already bringing Fairtrade consumption to the African consumer market and this partnership with NEPAD will further help create access and hence transform the lives of Fairtrade farmers across the continent.” said Mr. Michael Kwame Nkonu, Executive Director of Fairtrade Africa.
Among the objectives of this MoU are: joint resource mobilisation, facilitation of Fairtrade activities in the African wide region, capacity building of producer organizations and support of women in the Fair Trade business.
