RVO and CBI sign Trade for Sustainable Development Principles

On Thursday 30 September 2016 the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl) and the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) signed the Trade for Sustainable Development Principles, created by the International Trade Centre.

This was at a forum (28 – 30 September 2016) organised by the International Trade Centre (ITC) in Geneva focusing on ensuring benefits for everyone from global trade. Inclusive trade is the focus of the Netherlands’ trade and development agenda and Minister Ploumen (Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation) works simultaneously towards enhancing sustainable and inclusive trade from both the trade and the development angle.

Perfect timing

So the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) could hardly have chosen a better moment to sign the Trade for Sustainable Development Principles, created by the International Trade Centre.

Appreciated

The Government of The Netherlands (#KingdomNL) highly appreciates the work of ITC, notably in the context of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, and more specifically ITC’s contribution to increasing harmonization and transparency of standards for all supply-chain actors.

Core values

By signing the Trade for Sustainable Development Principles, the Dutch government expresses its intent to embrace, support and enact them where possible. The following principles are a set of core values for supporting sustainable trade:

•    Sustainability

Supports and promotes sustainable trade practices, with regard to social, environmental, economic and management quality and ethics issues at stake in the production, processing and trading of goods and services.

•    Transparency

Contributes to efficiency in global supply chains by clear demonstration of openness in sharing good practices, in fostering transparency, trust and inclusiveness at all levels of global supply chains.

•    Harmonization

Builds on existing resources and methodologies with a collaborative approach avoiding duplication that may provoke proliferation of standards, multiplication of audits or assessment methodologies.

•    Sustainable Development Goals

Act in alignment with the United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda, which builds upon the Millennium Development Goals, with a view to developing a set of global sustainable development goals.

OECD guidelines

All programmes of RVO.nl and CBI incorporate these values in order to make sure that they contribute to enhancing sustainable and inclusive trade. By making sure, for instance, that the companies they work with operate on the basis of OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises as well as the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights – covering the principle of sustainability.

For more information on RVO: english.rvo.nl
For more information on CBI: cbi.eu