Council supports campaign for Highland-wide Fairtrade zone

To mark Fairtrade Fortnight and as part of the current campaign for the Highlands to become officially recognised as a Fairtrade zone representatives from the Inverness Local Fairtrade Group were at Council Headquarters earlier today (Thursday 4 March) to promote a leaflet highlighting local cafes and traders who have signed up for FairTrade. The group chatted to Councillors as they served FairTrade tea and coffee and on display were examples of locally produced food items and FairTrade gift ideas.

Councillor Hamish Wood, who has recently taken over as chairman of the Council’s Strategic FairTrade Committee, was on hand to help promote the use of FairTrade products to his fellow Councillors.

He said: "Within Highland, there is strong support for FairTrade and a number of communities, including the city of Inverness, have already achieved FairTrade status. At the Council we have been serving FairTrade tea and coffee for a number of years, however we want to do more. This is why we are supporting the objective of FairTrade zone status for the entire Highland area. To be successful we need the widest possible support from communities, groups, organisations and companies.

"At our meeting last week we agreed to expand our remit, work closely with communities and organisations and to push for the Highlands to become a FairTrade zone. Our first priority is to collate information on which Highland communities, organisations and schools have FairTrade status, those which are in the process of developing FairTrade and those with no FairTrade activity. This will allow us to focus our development work and take us a step closer to being granted status. Not only would this be a great marketing opportunity for us to promote the whole Highlands but it could lead to an increase in sales of locally produced goods."

"I urge anyone involved in sourcing and selling FairTrade products to let us know what they are doing so we can gather as much information as possible. We can also promote the FairTrade activities of groups and communities on our website."

If you would like to let the Council know what you are doing to support and promote FairTrade in the Highlands or would like to more information on what the Highland Council is doing, please contact Gordon Morrison on (01463) 702547.

The Highland Council will be hosting a FairTrade Forum Conference in Inverness on Friday 11 June.