Gyeonggi-do to Host Fair Trade Festival in 18 Cities and Counties Until the 25th

Gyeonggi-do Fair Trade Fortnight Festival

Gyeonggi Province will hold a ‘Fair Trade’ festival in 18 cities and counties within the province.

On the 14th, Gyeonggi Province announced that from the 11th to the 25th of this month, it will hold the ‘2024 Gyeonggi Fair Trade Fortnight Festival’ in 18 regions across the province to promote the importance of fair trade and the value of the social economy.

Fair trade refers to trade that cooperates to pay producers fair wages and supply consumers with high-quality and trustworthy products. It is a global civic movement that pursues more equitable and just relationships. The main purpose of fair trade is to help economically vulnerable producers and workers avoid being pushed out of competition and achieve livelihood stability and economic self-sufficiency.

Gyeonggi Province received certification as a Fair Trade City last October from the Korea Fair Trade Town Committee, which was delegated certification duties by the International Fair Trade Towns Committee. Following the initial certification in October 2019 and recertification in 2021, the 2023 recertification maintains the ‘Fair Trade City’ status until October 2025.

Started in 2018 and now in its 7th year, the Gyeonggi Fair Trade Fortnight Festival is a festival organized by Gyeonggi Province to promote fair trade values. This year, it opened on the 11th at Starfield Anseong under the theme ‘The Day the World Becomes Fair: Fair Trade, Social Economy, and...’

This event includes participation from five cities and counties newly certified as Fair Trade Towns this year?Suwon, Ansan, Gwangmyeong, Siheung, and Anseong?as well as Yongin, Goyang, Hwaseong, Seongnam, Bucheon, Pyeongtaek, Anyang, Gimpo, Gunpo, Yangju, Guri, Uiwang, and Pocheon.

Fair Trade Town certification is a system that grants certification to cities, universities, companies, and institutions that exemplarily practice fair trade, following an evaluation by the International Fair Trade Towns Committee. This year, five cities and counties and 22 communities in the province received official certification.

Gyeonggi Province plans to widely promote fair trade and social values along with the ‘Social Value Festa’ at this year’s event.

Park Yeon-gyeong, Director of the Social Innovation Economy Bureau of Gyeonggi Province, said, "Fair trade is not just a simple act of consumption but an action that plants the seeds of coexistence and ethical consumption in a market economy where profit pursuit is paramount, thereby changing the world." She added, "We will continue to actively cooperate with cities, counties, and on-site fair trade activists to revitalize fair trade."