ICA Asia and Pacific in partnership with the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance (VCA) and the Institute for Organic Agricultural Economics organized the Second Asia Pacific Cooperative Registrars’ Forum on Creating Enabling Legal Framework and Policies to Promote Sustainable Development of Cooperatives in the 21stCentury. The Forum was co-funded by the ICA-EU Partnership on Cooperatives in Development (#Coops4Dev). The Forum brought together registrars and regulators concerned with the promotion and development of cooperatives nationally; leaders and managers of cooperatives from the Asia-Pacific region; and other stakeholders to discuss matters pertaining to legislation on cooperatives, as well as policies and regulations that complement existing laws.
The Forum was organized to focus on the 21st Century challenges relating to food security, nature of work and employment, financial inclusion, economic growth, gender equality & equity, climate change, and freedom of association. The rapid economic and social changes as well as crises during the last decade have prompted the need to think beyond ‘business as usual.’ While cooperatives have shown their resilience, there is need to reinvent, remodel and reorganize to stay relevant to members and society at large. In order to do this, there is need for conducive and enabling legal and policy frameworks to increase the ease with which cooperative business is done in Asia-Pacific. While serving as a platform of exchange on strategic issues, the Forum also aimed to build consensus for collaboration among the stakeholders.
The Opening Ceremony was graced by H.E. Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue, Member of the Political Bureau & Vice Prime Minister of Vietnam; Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment; Mr. Le Thanh, Director of the Institute for Organic Agricultural Economics; Mr. Le Minh Hoan, Secretary of the Party Committee, Dong Thap Province; Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Bao, President VCA; Mr. Li Chunsheng, President ICA-AP; and Mr. Bruno Roelants, Director General ICA. The Forum was attended by 319 delegates from 22 countries including Vietnam and included government representatives from Bhutan, Fiji, India, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, and Vietnam.
The panel at the Opening Ceremony of the Forum.
H.E. Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue in his speech acknowledged the role of cooperatives in implementing Vietnam’s national strategy on rural development and sustainability and its contributions to employment generation, poverty reduction, and environment protection. He stressed on the need for cooperatives to adapt and evolve with the times and called on ICA to play a greater role in promoting exchange of information, facilitating the creation of enabling law and policy, and advancing strong economic relations through trade and technology. Mr. Bruno Roelants, in his keynote address touched on the importance being given by ICA to data, research, statistics and legislation as part of its current strategy.
The event featured presentations on the mid-term results from the #coops4dev funded regional research exercises on legal framework analyses from South Asia, South East Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, and the findings from the thematic studies on Exploring Work and Ownership in Cooperatives in Asia Pacific (by CICOPA) and the Study on Autonomy and Independence of Cooperatives in India (by ALC India). The three technical sessions and one Panel Discussion showcased the wide range of work being carried out to promote inclusive cooperative societies, build sustainable food systems, and increase employment and entrepreneurship through cooperatives.
The Forum was well received by the Registrars in attendance. Ms. Tshering Wangmo, Chief Marketing Officer, DAMC, Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Bhutan said “Since DAMC is in the process of revising the Cooperative Act of Bhutan, this Forum has been very informative and useful. DAMC will optimise on the information learnt and the interaction made, and align our Act with International standards and norms.” Ms. Meriam binti Mat Nor, Deputy Executive Chairman, Malaysia Cooperative Societies Commission, Malaysia, said that “the forum was a precious experience and a great platform for information-sharing with the experts and counterparts from within the Asia Pacific region. It has provided different viewpoints into how other countries tackled issues in their co-operative movement.” Mr. Ramesh Chand, Acting Director and Registrar of Cooperative Business, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Fiji described his experience at the Forum as ‘overwhelming’. He said that “through the Forum I was able to meet many cooperative stalwarts and learn from them, learn that the legal framework should be accommodating to promote the interest of the cooperative movement, understand the need for statistical data, amongst other topics.” Ms. Dzhakshylykova Aizhan, Head of Legal Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Food Industry & Melioration, Kyrgyzstan said that she had an “excellent experience of understanding legislations, measures taken by the States to support cooperatives, and the varieties of cooperatives that exist in different countries.”
The Forum ‘resolved’ to support and take forward the ILO project on cooperative statistics; enhance the work of cooperatives towards the SDGs; and strive to create progressive and enabling laws and policies that would facilitate growth of cooperatives while safeguarding the autonomous and independent character of cooperatives. The full text of the resolution can be found here with guidelines to submit comments and reservations.
