The second edition of the Iran Chamber of Cooperatives (ICC) and the Embassy of South Korea Joint Seminar on Cooperatives Affairs was held at Tehran’s Milad Tower Conference Hall on November 27. This was held based on the positive feedback received at the first joint workshop on ‘Supply Chain Management, E-commerce and International Marketing’ in 2018.
The event was attended by Mr. Mashallah Azimi, the Secretary General of ICC; Mr. Ryu Jeong-Hyun, Ambassador of South Korea to Iran; and Mr. Choi Hee-won, Head of the Rural Research team at National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) of South Korea. In addition there were businessmen and representatives of cooperatives from both sides.
Delivering his speech in the opening of the seminar, Ambassador Ryu Jeong-Hyun expressed gratitude to ICC and the Iranian government for making necessary arrangements to organize the seminar. Pointing to the significance of such events, he said that the South Korean government is determined to hold this event annually in collaboration with ICC. He said that, “Cooperatives create jobs and provide various services to society and in this way have a significant role in the economic development of the countries.” He also stressed on the need for the two countries to share their knowledge and experience in order to expand their cooperation in a variety of fields through cooperatives and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Ambassador Ryu Jeong-Hyun addresses the seminar.
In his address, ICC Secretary General, Mr. Mashallah Azimi, presented a brief history of cooperatives in Iran along with the country’s capacities and capabilities in various areas. According to Mr. Azimi, cooperatives are not just established for pursuing economic benefits, but are a movement towards promoting social justice and social welfare all around the world. He highlighted that in the past two decades, cooperatives have engaged in bigger and more important infrastructure projects across the globe. In Iran such infrastructure projects account for five to eight percent of the country’s GDP. He highlighted the need for expansion of cooperation between the two countries SMEs in the era of sanctions, calling on the South Korean government to facilitatr transfer of knowledge and experience to Iran through cooperation between SMEs. He concluded by mentioning Iran’s plans for further expansion of the role of cooperatives in the country’s economy. “According to the Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021), the share of cooperatives in Iran’s GDP is set to increase to 25 percent from the current six percent. We hope to achieve this goal in a constructive cooperation with our reliable trade partners such as South Korea.”
Mr. Choi Hee-won, Head of Rural Research team at National Agricultural Cooperative Federation of South Korea, presented the history about establishment of cooperatives in his country and explained some of South Korea’s regulations, laws and acts regarding the cooperatives and the government’s support system. Following the seminar, experts from Iran's cooperative movement presented on specialized topics like employment and entrepreneurship, cooperatives and the emergence of start-ups and the role of women in the development of the cooperative movement.
