A message for the World Fair Trade Day

Just a glance at the official website for the World Fair Trade Day makes you well aware of how greatly the Fair Trade movement contributes towards a sound future for the Earth and humankind.

The first condition for such a future for the Earth is the ability to build a society where co-existence and co-prosperity exist, based on fair rules in a peaceful environment, without any discriminations. I consider the Fair Trade movement a very useful movement for the improvement of the living standards of people living in economically and socially harsh environments, particularly in developing countries. We, who live in a developed country (Japan) not faced with poverty, also have an obligation to support such movements as best we can.

What I can do is to try to improve food safety in my capacity as a member of the House of Councilors. I consider this to be my mission. The Fair Trade movement advocates for the practice of “environmentally friendly production” and I strongly agree with this. The promotion of organic farming naturally contributes towards the improvement of people's health in any country. Furthermore organic farming is possible irrespective of the size of farms. Finally organic farming also supports the lives of people living in poverty since it is a farming system that co-exists with nature.

I support the Fair Trade movement and hope that its popularity will grow in every nation of the world.