Sri Lankan co to brand Ceylon tea with UN

United Nations, Mar 21: A Sri Lankan company has introduced two new 'ethical' teas of the Ceylon variety and will jointly brand the products with the UN Global Compact to promote corporate citizenship around the world by including information about their initiatives in packs sold to millions of consumers each year.

Every box of the teas will include a leaflet explaining the principles of the Global Compact, an initiative bringing together businesses, governments, UN agencies, labour and civil society organisations to promote 10 universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

The launch of the products coincides with the start of the 'A Home for Every Plantation Worker' project, in which Mabroc Teas will work to improve the lives of 10,000 families involved in the production of the tea in Sri Lanka's Kelani Valley.

''For every pack of Mabroc Single Garden and Valley teas sold, we pledge a minimum of 1.5 US cents to this programme,'' the company's Chairman Bandula Jayasekera told a news briefing on Monday at UN headquarters in New York.

Through the programme, he said ''we make a difference to better the lives of our workers by improving their living conditions, their environment, supporting health and nutrition, creating capacity-building initiatives and empowering communities''.

The information is provided in five languages and the teas are shipped to some 40 countries each year.

''We believe that this story is of great importance and we hope that it will inspire many others,'' said Mr Georg Kell, executive director of the Global Compact.

The new brand of teas not only promotes the Global Compact, but ''also implements the principles and gives practical meaning to it for the many people who are working on plantations,'' he noted.

According to Mr Bernard Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the United States, his country is the largest exporter of black tea in the world.

Additionally, the tea industry is the largest employer, involving one million people directly and indirectly.

''It is not an exaggeration to say that Ceylon tea and Sri Lanka have become synonymous,'' he said, voicing hope that Mabroc will continue in its efforts to further the Compact's principles.

''At the same time, the example set by Mabroc should encourage other entrepreneurs around the world to follow suit and have a closer look at the way they conduct their businesses.'' Since its launch in 2000, the Global Compact has 3,800 participants, including almost 3,000 businesses from around the world.

UNI