What is Fair Trade? Fair Trade is an emerging approach of supporting small producers from developing countries through trade. As per the official definition: “Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers ? especially in the South. Fair Trade Organizations, backed by consumers, are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade. ” The Fair Trade movement advocates the payment of a fair price as well as social and environmental standards in areas related to the production of a wide variety of goods. It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries. Fair Trade's purpose is to deliberately work with marginalized producers and workers in developing countries in order to help them move from a position of vulnerability to one of security and economic self-sufficiency, and to empower them to become stakeholders in their own organizations. Fair Trade key principles are: 1- market access for marginalized producers 2- Sustainable and Equitable Trading Relationships 3- Capacity Building & Empowerment 4- Consumer Awareness Raising & Advocacy. What about Fair Trade in Korea? Today, the Europe-Korea Foundation observes that, even if the Fair Trade approach is growing increasingly popular worldwide (especially in Europe, US, and Japan), it enjoys very limited public recognition in Korea. The Fair Trade movement is still in its early stage here. EKF thinks it is time to foster and develop a culture of Fair Trade in Korea, and that it can play a significant role in spreading a concept that is now flourishing in Europe. EKF believes that its efforts will have a great effect in ultimately offering a precious help to Fair Trade producers and farmers in developing countries, and especially South-East Asian countries. What EKF is doing related to Fair Trade? EKF is supporting the efforts of Fair Trade producers who want to offer their products to Korean consumers. For example, EKF participated to the annual exhibition organized by the Korea Importers Association (KOIMA) in COEX, in late May 2009, by setting up a Fair Trade booth, in cooperation with the Korea Fair Trade Association (KFTA). The booth was an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about Fair Trade among Korean importers and distributors, and general public. In September 2009, EKF will organize a large international Fair Trade seminar in Seoul. The purpose will be to raise awareness about Fair Trade among Korean consumers and Korean media. On this occasion, representatives of international Fair Trade organizations will be invited to Korea. This seminar will be supported by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). As EKF will continuously increase its involvement on Fair Trade in Korea, many more events will follow! EKF’s efforts on spreading the notion of fair trade EKF held its first International Fair Trade Seminar, sponsored by Korean International Cooperation Agency(KOICA), on September 22nd, 2009 at Kukdo Hotel. The seminar is intended to raise awarness about Fairtrade in Korea, and many people from various sectors attended. Fairtrade aims to support marginalized workers and producers in developing countries to become economically self-sufficient by offering transparent trading conditions. In order to have the right set up, international speakers were invited to this event. Ms. Johnna Phillips of the Fairtrade Labeling Organization (FLO), located in Germany, gave her presentation about Fairtrade approach and certification process, and Ms. Kaori Nakajima of FLO-Japan introduced growing movement of Fairtrade in Japan. Then, Mr. Thepsulinthone Vannalath, a Fairtrade producer fromm Laos and Ms. Nguyen Tuyet Minh, a Fairtrade producer from Vietnam,gave the speech of benefits of Fairtrade. Those experts extensively and patiently answered all the questions related to fair-trade.

“2009 Seoul Traditional Artist Awards,” aiming to preserve and develop Korean traditional culture, was successfully ended. Following the great success of 2007 and 2008 editions, this year’s 3rd edition could not have done without the support from the Europe-Korea Foundation, HSBC Korea, Boehringer-Ingelheim Korea and Seoul Metropolitan City. This year, HSBC Korea sponsored six Intangible Cultural Assets, and Boehringer-Ingelheim Korea supported one Intangible Cultural Asset through “One Company- One Artist” sponsorship program. The Exhibition booths were set up alongside the entrance of the main hall so that all the guests enjoyed viewing the great works of awardees. They also took pleasure in watching some of artists’ musical performances after the Awards ceremony. The support and interests in Korean Traditional Culture have been improved by holding the event. In addition, it was a great occasion for many foreigners, especially Europeans to broaden their perspectives towards Korean Traditional Culture. The Europe-Korea Foundation will make continual efforts to host such an event that will fuel to advance the relation between Europe and Korean Peninsula.

On Feburary 14th, The Europe ?Korea Foundation joined to support a special Valentine’s Day event, “Find Charlie!,” organized by Jubilee (JF&B Co. Ltd), a leading manufacturer of premium hand-made chocolate. The main concept of the event, “Find Charlie,” was based on the story of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” a children’s book adapted into a movie “Charlie and the Chocolate factory in 2005” by the famous director, Tim Burton. The theme of the event was coming from the part that the secretive owner of the greatest chocolate factory Mr. Willy Wonka announced to open the doors and show all of the secret producing process of his factory to five lucky children and their parents who find the hidden five golden tickets beneath the wrappers of his famous chocolate bars. Charlie Bucket, a poor but virtuous boy, buys one chocolate bar and within the wrapping finds the fifth golden ticket. Jubilee Chocolate buyers had chances to win the hidden “Tickets” beneath the wrappers of praline chocolate boxes like in the movie, during the “Find Charlie” event period. The final drawing event was held in the part of “the Chocolate of Jeong Eun Kim”, a famous SBS music talk show. The SBS Recording Hall was filled with young couples who wanted the Valentine’s Day’s luck to fall on them so that they would win the prize of the “Find Charlie” and fly to Europe to visit a chocolate factory. Mr. Baudouin de HEMPTINNE, the Head of Trade and Investment at the Embassy of Belgium kindly came out on the stage for drawing and gave a congratulatory remark to the winner. Also, Mr. Joseph Kim, Managing Director of JF&B Co. Ltd, presented plaque of charity donation to EKF. This event was sponsored by many prestigious organizations - the Europe-Korea Foundation, the Embassy of Belgium, the Embassy of France, the French Cultural Center, and the European Union of Chamber in Korea. It was very impressive to see how this project completed with a tremendous attention and success.

The Europe-Korea Foundation organized on the 17th of February 2009 its first seminar on Corporate Social Responsibility. The topic of the forum was “CSR in Times of Economic Crisis”. On April 14th, EKF will organize a CSR Luncheon ; the topic will be “10 Reasons Not to Give up Corporate Community Involvement in Difficult Times”.

On 4th of May, EKF with the sponsorship of 11 foreign (mostly Europeans) and domestic companies successfully organized a bazaar during the Children’s Day festival in Ganghwa. This bazaar was an event to help the poor in Gangwha, which is 1.5 hours drive from Seoul. With the support of many corporate sponsors, tables were full of products, food, clothes etc., and the park was filled with compassion, love, laughter and the bargaining sounds. Many children who were participating in a drawing contest for Children’s day event were happy to join this bazaar with their parents and ran around with the joy of various flavored ice cream and LEGO toys. The biggest sponsor of this bazaar was General Mills & Haagen-Dazs with about10 Mil KRW worth of ice creams and Nature Valley snacks. It was more meaningful that a lot of Haggen-Dazs staff volunteered to support the bazaar and actively sold ice cream enjoying talking to little kids. PHILIPS also donated 3 million won worth of electric home appliances which was the most popular during the event, since products was offered with 50% discount. In fact, high quality products such as Jubilee Chocolates, Daeyoo Wine, PUMA, LEGO, HUMANA (German baby meal), Mary Kay cosmetics, airplane toys and blankets from Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa were put into sale. Four Sumir staff participated to barbecue German sausages, and sold them with white wine. Almost 25 Mil KRW worth of commodities were supplied. Also, distinguished guests such as Mayor of Ganghwa, his wife and the famous actress Byun, Jeong Min showed their presence to this event to give helping hands. What makes this EKF bazaar so special is that EKF and Ganghwa selected 20 underprivileged people who are in financial need and invited them to the park to give the profits directly during a donation ceremony. Haagen-Dazs highlighted this event through visiting an orphanage and facility in Ganghwa for the handicapped with their galaxy bus (Speicaially manufactured bus to promote the company and sell ice cream), and donated more than 500 ice creams. Kids in the orphanage were so impressed with the savvy and high- tech bus and even more happy to taste the greatest ice cream. EKF would like to send its gratitude to all the sponsors and volunteers, without whom this successful event would not have been possible.

The Europe-Korea Foundation held the 2009 International Youth Football Tournament, sponsored mainly by ING Bank and Seoul Global Center, on Saturday, October 17th, 2009 at the Grand Children’s Center in Seoul. It first started in 2005 with the intention of promoting friendships and understandings among children with different backgrounds through the means of sports and fair play. 4 International schools (Japanese school in Seoul, International German School, The U.S. Yongsan Futbal Club and Lycee Francais de Seoul) and SOS Children’s Village (Korean orphanage) participated to the tournament competed each other. All the teams have improved their football skills and teamwork compared to last year. Every player showed great sportsmanship, performance and cooperating skills while they were interacting well with each other throughout every match. It was a great opportunity for all the children from different cultures and backgrounds to make new friends and establish new relationships with children of their age they hadn’t met before.

Saving the environment is an emerging issue in today’s fast changing high-tech era around the world. The current generations can no longer guarantee the inheritance of the preserved environment to the future generations. In a way of alarming the importance of saving the environment to the public, The Europe-Korea Foundation is going to organize the 1st International Children’s Drawing Competition on Saturday, November 14th at the Keun Hwa Won, Grand Children’s Center. The main theme of the event is ‘Saving our Environment,’ and many international and Korean children will demonstrate the way of saving environment from their point of views and their concern on the environment. This will also be the great opportunity for the participating children to carefully consider the significance of the preservation of the environment for their generation. In initiating its 1st International Children’s Drawing Competition; ‘Saving our Environment,’ EKF is willing to continuously contribute its sincere care and support for saving environment in the future. - The 1st International Children’s Drawing Competition, ‘Saving our Environment,’ is proudly sponsored by ING. - The total number of participants will be limited to 150 on first come, first served basis. - 12 prizewinning works will be displayed on EKF’s website, and displaying them on the sponsoring company’s website is still under discussion

In order to contribute to an improvement of the living conditions of the poor whose financial stability has worsened due to the economic downturn, The Europe-Korea Foundation organized a charity event ‘Delivering love to the Underprivileged’ in association with Seoul Food Bank, a donated food distribution channel of Seoul Metropolitan Goverment, on Saturday, December 12th, 2009 at Gui Park in Gwangjin District. The event aimed to practice sharing love with neighbors in poor economic conditions. In a way of doing so, The Moving Food Market (A truck filled with food and other necessities) of Seoul Food Bank operated in the venue where selected poor households gathered to get food and necessities that are needed. Around 150 people from selected poor households in Gwangjin District get benefited during the event, and EKF & EUCCK staffs visited a family to hand out donated products. The event could be conducted successfully due to Cognis Korea’s sponsorship and Lego and Puma Korea’s products donation.