Episode 16. Belgium, sustainable chocolate country

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A conversation with Carole van Eyll, Belgian ambassador to Côte d'Ivoire.

Belgium is undoubtedly the country of chocolate. With 11% of the world market, we are the second largest exporter of chocolate in the world. And we love it, as each Belgian consumes no less than 5.2 kilos a year. In April, Belgium is organising the 5th edition of the World Cocoa Conference under the slogan "Paying more for sustainable cocoa". Unfortunately, cocoa farming is associated with a number of problems: the far too low income of cocoa farmers, child labour, deforestation, and so on.

These are just some of the challenges that Belgium wants to address by bringing all players in the cocoa sector together at this conference.

But what else is Belgium doing to make cocoa as sustainable as possible? And who are our partners to achieve that goal?

Belgian ambassador to Côte d'Ivoire Carole van Eyll answers our questions.

Listen to this podcast in French: Spotify and SoundCloud

Or in Dutch: Spotify and SoundCloud

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Photo of Carole van Eyll with a microphone in front of her and a poster of the 12th Sustainable Development Goal behind her

Carole van Eyll

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