Fair Trade Forum - India

A workshop on Fair Trade and Sustainable Consumption was organized on 31st October 2011 in partnership with SIPA at MSSRF (M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation) at Chennai. Mr.K.Y. Clement, General Manager, NABARD, Tamilnadu Regional Office , Chennai was the chief guest in the inaugural ceremony.  Mr. S.V.Sekar, film actor and social activist launched the newly designed website fo Fair Trade Forum – India in the valedictory ceremony of the workshop.

In his inaugural address, Mr. Clement explained about various schemes being offered by NABARD for the development of the marginalized sections. He also observed that there are many similarities between the principles of Fair Trade movement and vision of NABARD. Mr. P. Sridharan Nair, Vice President, FTF-I welcomed the participants and shared the theme of  “Fair Trade and Sustainable Consumption’. Dr. K. Panchaksharam, founder president, FTF-I shared about the Fair Trade movement in General and about the formation of FTF-I in particular. Ms. Mallamma Yalawar, Treasurer, FTF-I, Mr. P.L.Ramasamy, General Manager, SIPA and Mr. Jayakumar, Director Communications, FTF-I led sessions on ‘FTF-I’s activities’, ‘SIPA’s Initiatives’ and ‘Fair Trade India brand’, respectively. Ms. Sumitra Prasad, development was the facilitator of the program. Representatives from leading NGOs, Fair Trade producers, students and social entrepreneurs participated in the program.  The program was supported by the European Union. A product display was organized by Shilpa, ESAF and SIPA at the workshop venue. 

Mr. S.C.Sekar also launched the Corporate Gift combo, developed by SIPA. Mr. K. Murali, Manager, Tamilanadu Corporation for Development of Women Development also spoke in the valedictory session.