Amsterdam Cocoa Declaration

The second edition of the World Cocoa Conference, organised by the International Cocoa Organisation and hosted by the Government of the Netherlands, has concluded with the adoption of the Amsterdam Cocoa Declaration, highlighting the progress made in tackling the cocoa industry’s most serious problems.

The Conference, which ran from 9-13 June at the city’s Rai Exhibition and Congress Centre, attracted more than 1,400 cocoa stakeholders from 55 countries and from all parts of the sector including farmers, traders, processors, chocolate makers and civil society groups. An exhibition featured 50 stands representing various cocoa-related organizations and companies.

Among the highlights of the main sessions at the conference, which featured 100 speakers and panelists, were the addresses by Dutch Agriculture Minister, Sharon Dijksma, Jean Louis Billon, Minister of Trade of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana’s Ambassador to the Netherlands Joe Tony Aidoo and, representing his country’s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture and Fisheries, Javier Ponce Cevallos, was Ecuador’s Vice Minister Luis Valverde.

Among the many Conference highlights was a keynote presentation from ICCO Executive Director Jean-Marc Anga suggesting a new method of increasing cocoa farmer incomes; a lively panel session moderated by CNN’s Richard Quest looking at progress in reducing the worst forms of child labour; the presentation of the new World Cocoa Foundation platform CocoaAction by senior representatives of the world’s largest processors and chocolate manufacturers; and an ‘Inspiration Lounge’ where there were activities including chocolate painting, chocolate and wine tastings and a look at the art of the chocolatier.

At the conference dinner held at the city’s 17th Century Maritime Museum, special awards were presented to Ghana’s best cocoa farmer, as a representative of the entire cocoa producing community; to Ecuador in recognition of that country’s leadership in bringing about a consensual outcome to the issue of the EU Directive on cadmium one levels in cocoa, and to Côte d’Ivoire to demonstrate the success that the world’s largest producer had shown in developing a national cocoa plan to further the development goals for the country’s cocoa sector, as recommended by the Global Cocoa Agenda.

The Amsterdam Cocoa Declaration, agreed by the participants at the conference, looks at the progress made worldwide in maintaining the forward progression toward a fully sustainable cocoa sector and identifies priority areas and actions to be implemented that would allow all stakeholders in the cocoa value chain to equitably share in its benefits.

The World Cocoa Conference, which was first staged in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire in November 2012, is scheduled to be held again in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic in March 2016, at the kind invitation of the Government of the Dominican Republic.