The 14th Regional Assembly was held online on 24th February 2021 to consider administrative issues and approve the postponement of the ICA-AP Regional Board elections. The online assembly was attended by more than 110 participants from 18 countries – Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordon, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Palestine, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Mr. Li Chunsheng, President of ICAAP, Chaired the assembly and extended a warm welcome to all the members. He asked for the approval of the agenda which was unanimously approved. The minutes of the 13th ICA-AP Regional Assembly held in Tehran were confirmed by the members.
The members observed one-minute silence in the memory of Mr. Sethu Madhavan, Dr. T. Paranjothi, Mr. Prem Kumar, Mr. Kwek Kok Kwong, and Royal Professor Ungku A. Aziz whom we lost in 2020.
Mr. Li asked for comments on the minutes of the four Regional Board meetings held since the last Regional Assembly, which were sent in advance to all the members. There were no further comments made by the members and the minutes were unanimously approved.
Mr. Balasubramanian Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP highlighted the key activities carried out since the last Regional Assembly in Tehran - the ICA-MAFF Japan Training Project; ICA-EU Project trainings, seminars and exchanges; training and workshops carried out through the MBO and with support from members; 2nd Asia Pacific Cooperatives Registrars’ Forum in 2019 in Vietnam; efforts to expand the membership in the Pacific, Central Asia and Middle East Asia regions; and celebration of the 60th anniversary. He thanked members for supporting these events in their countries and said, “this is a reflection of cooperation among cooperatives”. He also presented the ICA-AP financial report of 2018 and 2019, and the membership situation.
The Regional Assembly approved the postponement of the Regional Board elections. The election had to be postponed due to COVID-19 imposed travel restrictions in 2020 and could only take place in-person as per ICA rules. The Regional Assembly will convene in-person to conduct the Regional Board elections, in conjunction with the ICA World Cooperative Congress in Seoul, Korea on 30th November.
Mr. Mohit Dave, Programme Manager, presented the progress report of the ICA-EU Partnership Project. ICA-AP President, Mr. Li, said, “ICA-EU project is an outstanding example of promoting cooperatives development”. This was followed by the presentations from Mr. Amano Haruyoshi, Chair of the Consumer Committee; Mr. Ravindran from the Credit and Banking Committee; Ms. Simren Singh, Secretary, Education Committee; Prof. Akira Kurimoto, Chair of the Research Committee; Mr. Nasir Khan from the Trade and Business Committee; Dr. Nandini Azad, Chair of the Women Committee; and Mr. Ahsan Ali Thakur, Chair of the Youth Committee. Mr. Iyer presented a brief report on the Malaysia Business Office (MBO) and its activities. He concluded the meeting by thanking all the members and inviting them to the next Regional Assembly in Seoul in November.
