Success of 1st Romanian Organic Forum

The first Romanian Organic Forum was successfully held from Oct. 22-23 in Bucharest. Around 150 participants attended this two day-conference at the Romexpo grounds. They showed big interest in the lectures given by international and national experts. The program was divided into several topics, e.g.: production of organic food products; production and trade by organic farmers; the organic food market in Romania; trade of organic food; control system in production and trade of organic food.

The two national organizers were Bio Romania, the newly founded umbrella association of organic operators, and the Ministry of SMEs, Trade and Business Environment of Romania.

The two international organizers were the Dresden-based NGO EkoConnect, and the Geneva-based International Trade Centre (ITC).

EkoConnect, focusing on the development of the organic sectors in CEE-countries, has developed the concept of the event and supported the event logistically. EkoConnect is also the initiator and performer of the successful Organic-Marketing-Forum in Warsaw.

ITC, the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations dedicated to helping enterprises from developing countries and transition economies become more competitive in the global market, ensured the overall management of the event and provided financial support and technical publications on organic related issues within its project “Export Development in Eastern Europe.”The Romanian Organic Forum 2009 came as the culmination of three-years ITC support to the organic sector in Romania, in the ambition to become a sustainable initiative. www.intracen.org

As sponsors, the Dutch  Avalon Foundation (see our article) as well as a number of local supporters contributed to the Forum’s success.

The world-renowned anti-GMO activist and winner of the 2007 Right Livelihood Award Percy Schmeiser (picture) from Canada unexpectedly arrived with his wife Louise at the Forum shortly before the opening ceremony and was given space for a touching and alarming speech  (see youtube) to the Romanian audience about the big threat of GMOs in the world and in the country. As this topic is not at all public in Romania it was extremely important to give Mr. Schmeiser the opportunity address the organic stakeholder community present at the forum. The scale of Monsanto’s influence in Romania was demonstrated when the University of Bucharest suddenly cancelled an event with Mr. Schmeiser the day before the forum, following a protest note by Monsanto.

The 1st Romanian Organic Forum pointed out how huge the interest in organic agriculture and organic processing and marketing are in the country and in the region. Mr. Bernhard Jansen, director of Ekoconnect and Mr. Ralph Liebing (see Interview at youtube), market-developer of FiBL (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture) and director of ORA (Organic Retailers Association) agree that the idea to plant a sister-event of the Warsaw Forum in the South-East of Europe has fully taken shape as it was intended to.

Bio Romania as well as the Ministry for SMEs and the Ministry of Agriculture were very satisfied with the success of the Forum and are motivated to help the Forum gain an image as good as its big sister from Warsaw.

The Romanian Organic Forum is on the track to become a sustainable annual event with the potential to influence the overall organic development of the country and the region as the Warsaw-version was able to since 2006.

For the Forum in October 2010 the know-how transfer between successful stakeholders from Western Europe and South-Eastern Europe shall be a major focus.