The theme of this year’s event is ‘Striving for Impact: Living Income, Traceability & Partnerships’ and will discuss the emerging new era of sustainable cocoa, based on mandated traceability.
Always an important agenda-setting conference for the cocoa industry, the WCF’s Partnership Meeting will be the first live gathering since 2019 when it was held in Berlin. Subsequent meetings were held online.
This year, the WCF will be asking serious and fundamental questions about a sustainable cocoa sector such as: who will benefit? Is traceability worth the effort if the farmer’s situation does not improve? How do we rise to the challenge of farmer poverty as a root cause of deforestation and child labour?
“We need a systemic approach to drive lasting impact. To discuss these questions and more, join companies, governments, donors, civil society, farmers and experts at the 2022 Partnership Meeting, the leading event on cocoa sustainability,” the WCF said.
The Meeting will be held at The Hotel in Brussels and confirmed speakers for 2022 include:
- Joseph Boahen Aidoo, CEO of the Ghana Cocoa Board
- Peter Boone, CEO of Barry Callebaut
- Mariam Dao Gabala, Chairperson of Solidaridad’s Supervisory Board
- Heidi Hautala, Vice President of the European Parliament
- Samuel Abu Jinapor, Ghana’s Minister of Lands and Natural Resources
- Yves Brahima Koné, Executive Director of the Conseil du Café Cacao
- Didier Reynders, European Union Commissioner for Justice
- Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé
- Laurent Tchagba, Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Water and Forests
- Jutta Urpilainen, European Union Commissioner for International Partnerships
To register and for more details on the programme visit the WCF website.