Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam to grace event as Guest of Honour
SINGAPORE, 26 SEPTEMBER 2012 – Over 100 distinguished speakers from stakeholders across the palm oil sector will gather for the landmark 10th Annual Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil (RT10) at Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore, from 30 October– 1 November 2012.
Presented by international multi-stakeholder organisation the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and themed “10 Years of Driving Sustainability. A Business Model for the Future”, the three-day RT10 will address topical issues and challenges facing the palm oil industry.
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Singapore, will grace the event as Guest of Honour. Delegates from over 32 countries around the globe have registered to attend the RT10, from all sectors including oil palm producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environment non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and social or developmental NGOs; as well as from embassies, academic institutions and research organisations.
To further promote international co-operation and acknowledge the effectiveness and importance of the multi-stakeholder approach in addressing various pressing global challenges, RT10 will introduce an interesting plenary session, “Multi Stakeholders Initiative – CEO Forum of Roundtable”. The panel will gather high-level representatives from various sustainability and environmental roundtables and nongovernmental organisations including Mr Darrel Webber, Secretary General of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Agustin Mascotena, Executive Director, Round Table for Responsible Soy Association, Alistair Monument, Asian Regional Director, Forest Stewardship Council and Sebastien Haye, Executive Secretary, Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels.
“As the RSPO annual roundtable marks its tenth year, we must recognise that this initiative could not have gone far without the multi-stakeholder representation within the RSPO. The roundtable has provided a valuable platform for the harmonising of varying interests to serve one common vision of making sustainable palm oil the norm,” said Mr Darrel Webber. “RT10 will provide an opportunity for all stakeholders in the palm oil industry to come together to reaffirm their support for sustainable palm oil, not only for environmental reasons, but for business continuity of the entire sector.”
Chairperson for the plenary session, Mr Sameer Mohindru, Commodities Correspondent at Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal, said: “At a time when a debate is raging over the efficacy of increasing palm oil production in ecologically fragile areas, the key challenge is to balance the needs of both food security and environment, which are equally important.”
This year, the RSPO expects RT10 to continue to receive strong international support as sustainablyproduced palm oil gains traction within the sector. Over a short three-year period from 2009 to 2011, the supply of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) soared 250%, while sales volume grew over six times. Last year, RSPO celebrated another milestone with the launch of the RSPO Trademark on consumer goods packaging, which informs customers and helps them to differentiate products which are being sourced sustainably. “The Roundtable is a timely call to action at a time when sustainably produced palm oil is gaining global traction,” added Mr Webber. “I hope RT10 will capitalise on this momentum to generate meaningful dialogue and further encourage buy-in from stakeholders across the palm oil supply chain, resulting in renewed commitment from the sector.”
For more information about RT10 and how to register, please log on to www.rt10.rspo.org.
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About RT10
Positioned as the world’s largest sustainable palm oil conference and held since 2003, the annual roundtable or RT is a platform to exchange views and experiences among various stakeholders in developed and developing countries; to strengthen their co-operation and support in promoting sustainable palm oil. The annual roundtable is positioned as an industry event organized to seek participation from players within the palm oil sector from all around the world. Last year, the event attracted over 1000 delegates from 34 countries representing various stakeholder groups in the palm oil supply chain.
This year, RT10 will be held from October 30 – November 1 2012 in Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore. RT10 will be organized over three days comprising presentation papers, workshops, breakout sessions, and dialogue.
More information about the RT10 is available at http://rt10.rspo.org.
10th Annual Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil (RT10) Fact Sheet
About RSPO
In response to the urgent and pressing global call for sustainably produced palm oil, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was formed in 2004 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders. The seat of the association is in Zurich, Switzerland, while the secretariat is currently based in Kuala Lumpur with a satellite office in Jakarta.
RSPO is a not-for-profit association that unites stakeholders from seven sectors of the palm oil industry - oil palm producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental or nature conservation NGOs and social or developmental NGOs - to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil.
Such multi-stakeholder representation is mirrored in the governance structure of RSPO such that seats in the Executive Board and project level Working Groups are fairly allocated to each sector. In this way, RSPO lives out the philosophy of the "roundtable" by giving equal rights to each stakeholder group to bring group-specific agendas to the roundtable, facilitating traditionally adversarial stakeholders and business competitors to work together towards a common objective and making decisions by consensus.
For further information, kindly contact:
Contact for RSPO Secretariat:
Anne Gabriel, Communications Director | T: +603 - 2201 2053 5800 | [email protected]
Contact for Singapore:
Lin Kuek, Hill + Knowlton Strategies | T: +65 6390 3363 | [email protected]
Contact for Europe:
Tanno Massar, Hill+Knowlton Strategies | T: +32 (0)2 231 50 19 | [email protected]
Contact for Indonesia:
Desi Kusumadewi, RSPO Indonesia Director| T: +62 21 5794 0222 | [email protected]
Contact for India:
Arneeta Vasudeva | IPAN Hill & Knowlton | T: +91-124-496 7316 | [email protected]
Contact for China:
Peter Headden , Hill & Knowlton | T: (86 10) 5861 7597 | [email protected] 
