Coffee and Fruit & Vegetable sectors have Codes of Conduct on environmentally responsible business practices
On 27 October 2021,The “Codes of Conduct (CoCs) on environmentally responsible business in the Fruit and Vegetables sector and the Coffee sector in Viet Nam” were launched today at a virtual workshop organized by the Viet Nam Institute for Rural Industry Research and Development (VIRI) in collaboration with Viet Nam Coffee – Cocoa Association (VICOFA)and Viet Nam Fruit & Vegetables Association (VINAFRUIT). The launching workshop is part of the project: “Advancing environmentally responsible business for the Coffee sector and Fruit & Vegetable sector in Viet Nam” with the funding and technical suport from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Government of Sweden.
The CoCs are independent and voluntary sets of standards that aimto establishappropriate standards targetingmicro-, small, and medium-sized enterprises, cooperatives, and farmer households in Coffee sector and Fruit and Vegetables sectorin Vietnam.
Participants in the workshop areMr. Ola Karlman, First Secretary/Head of the Political, Economic and Trade Promotion Department from the Embassy of Sweden, Mr. Patrick Haverman, Deputy Chief Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnamand the project staff, Mr Le Duc Thinh, Director General of department of cooperatives and rural developmentand experts from universities, research institutes, enterprises in the coffee and fruit & vegetable sectors.
The workshop was held via the zoom platform and live stream on the Youtube and Fanpage of UNDP Vietnam, with 120 participants. During workshop, 41 enterprises and cooperatives representing twosectorssigned pledge toshow their commitment tosupport and implement the “Codesof conduct on environmentally responsible business for the coffee sector and fruit & vegetablessector in Viet Nam”. This is an important step forward that shows businesses’ advocacyto putthe Code of Conduct into practice,spreadinggreat values, embracingabright future and sustainable living environment for next generations.
In the process of developing the CoCs, the research team has received great support from experts and international certification organizations such as LEAF Marque and GLOBAL G.A.P. The development of theCoCs is the first step in the process of building a certificate of environmentally responsible business for the twosectors. The next steps for the development of the certification process will be building the associations’ capacity for monitoring, evaluation, and labeling; developing specific testing, monitoring and guidance; and labeling regulations.