The ICA-AP held its Regional Board Meeting on 29 November 2021 in Seoul, Republic of Korea in a hybrid manner. Mr. Li Chunsheng, Chairperson of the Regional Board extended a warm welcome to the board members who joined from China, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, and Sri Lanka. This was the last Regional Board meeting for Mr. Li as President and he thanked everyone for their support during his presidency.
The agenda items included – consideration of the exception requests submitted by members with subscription dues to cast vote in the Regional Board elections, regional assembly, regional board elections, and presentation of ICA-AP activity and financial reports.
Mr. Sung-Hee Lee, Chairman, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF), Korea, the host country for the Regional Board Meeting, Regional Assembly and the 33rd World Cooperative Congress 2021, welcomed all the board members.
Mr. Balasubramanian Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP presented the schedule of the Regional Assembly pre-events - Global Workshop on Cooperatives in Educational Institutions, ICA-AP Women’s Forum, Committee Meetings, Regional Assembly, and Regional Board Elections. He informed the board members that ICA President, Mr. Ariel Guarco will address the Regional Assembly on 30 November. Mr. Iyer also shared an overview of the election process and the status of authorisation and proxy forms received for the elections.
The board deliberated on the members’ exception requests on a case by case basis. As per ICA rules, only members who are up-to-date with their subscription dues can vote in the elections. Members in Iran and Myanmar could not pay their subscription dues because of sanctions and civil unrest in their countries. Mr. Alireza Banaefir, International Relations Manager, ICC presented the case of cooperative in Iran. After listening to their willingness and commitment to pay, the board granted them the right to vote. Mr. Iyer presented the case of Cooperative Union of Kyrgyzstan (CUK), National Association of Mongolian Agricultural Coops (NAMAC) and Mongolian National Cooperative Alliance (MNCA) who had not paid their dues for two years or less and who had submitted equests seeking more time to make payment as they were severely impacted by the pandemic. The Board agreed to grant them voting rights on the condition that they pay their dues by 31 March 2022. The last category included inactive members - the National Cooperative Union of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Jatiya Samabaya Union (BJSU) who had not paid their dues for three years and COOPFED, Sri Lanka who had already received a cessation notice due non-payment of dues. After much deliberation on their situations, the board granted them the right to vote in the Elections on the condition that they provide written commitment by 30 Nov 2021 to pay their dues by 31 March 2022.
Mr. Iyer shared the names of the three Election Committee members - Dr. Robby Tulus - ex Regional Director, ICA-AP; Professor. Seungkwon Jang - Professor of Business Administration, Department of Management of Cooperatives, Graduate School Cooperative MBA, Graduate School of Social Economy, Sungkonghoe University, Korea; and Ms. Stefania Marcone - Chief of International Relations and European Policy, Legacoop, Italy. The regional board approved the committee to oversee the elections.
Mr. Iyer presented the key activities undertaken by the regional office like the webinars organised by ICA-AP Women and Consumer committees, ICA-MAFF (Japan) online training course, Consultation on Autonomy and Independence of the Cooperatives in India, and the Coops4dev closing event. He shared the ICA-AP financial report from Jan – Dec 2020 which showed a surplus of USD 91,835 as against the projected deficit of USD 12,909 and the report from Jan – Sep 2021 indicating a positive situation due to less travel and non-occurrence of physical events and activities. He also presented the financial outlay and activity plan for 2022 for board approval. He noted that the next year’s plan doesn’t include the ICA-EU project, but ICA is hopeful of getting another project from the European Union. The Board approved the budget and activity plan for 2022.
The acting Chairperson of the Women’s Committee, Ms. Chitose Arai, presented the activities carried out by the committee in 2021 and launched the Women Committee’s Brochure. The newly-elected Chairperson of the Youth Committee, Mr. Alireza Banaefir, shared the update from the youth committee (election of new office bearers and tentative plans). Mr. Li congratulated and appreciated both the committees.
Mr. Iyer shared an update on the ICA-AP FCRA exception request submitted to the Govt. of India.
Mr. Nasir Khan, on behalf of Dato Dr. Abdul Fattah Abdullah, President of ANGKASA thanked the ICA-AP President Mr. Li for his contribution to the Regional Board.
The date and place of the next Regional Board Meeting will be decided by the new regional board post-elections. Mr. Li thanked everyone for their support and contribution in his tenure as the ICA-AP President and conveyed his best wishes to the new board and officially closed the meeting.
