ICA Asia-Pacific (ICA-AP) in collaboration with Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) organized a webinar on “Engagement of Cooperatives in the G20” on 28th September 2020.
Mr. Balasubramanian Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP moderated the discussion and explained how the Asia-Pacific is well represented in the G20, with seven countries – Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, and Saudi Arabia. The ICA and its members have been participating in the G20 Engagement Groups since 2014 (when the G20 Summit was held in Australia) and have highlighted the role of cooperatives in addressing the challenges facing small and medium businesses, employment, insurance, and education and inclusion of cooperatives in policy papers providing recommendations to G20 governments.
Mr. Suresh Prabhu, Member of Parliament in the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) of India and India’s Sherpa to the G7 and G20 said that G20 countries account for 86% of the world’s GDP. Post the pandemic, governments are working to grow their economies; here the current global governance (globalization, reliance on markets, food security, disparity) is being called into question. Cooperatives with their ability to bring people together from the bottom-up and through their socio-economic-environmental emphasis, have an important role to play. The world is awash with liquidity, ‘too much money at no cost’; it is important to pay attention on deployment. Cooperative banks can play an important role in mobilizing resources and channelizing them in an equitable way to the credit needy countries and in socio-economic improvement. He mentioned that the G20 will host its 2022 Summit in New Delhi, and he looks forward to work with the cooperative movement to be well represented in this dialogue.
Ms. Melina Morrison, CEO of the Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals (BCCM) highlighted on the contribution of cooperative businesses in the Australian economy. She said that cooperatives can show their relevance to G20 leaders by virtue of their resilience, model of inclusion, work on food security, and promotion of free trade.
Mr. Jean Louis Bancel, President of Cooperatives Europe has worked in different taskforces and sub-groups to ensure cooperatives were mentioned as key ‘solutions’ contributors to the challenges facing the financial sector. In the C20 International Financial Architecture policy paper, the recommendations for Financial Regulation and Financial Inclusion contain a directive for G20 countries to agree on "standards that promote a more diverse banking system in all countries that include state-owned and development banks at the regional and local levels, as well as cooperatives, savings, and ethical banks and non-profit institutions." He said that cooperatives need to understand the interest of the G20 leader’s agenda; align their own interests in SDGs, climate action, and social justice.
Dr. U.S. Awasthi, Managing Director, IFFCO stressed upon the point that given the size and importance of the cooperative movement, cooperatives have a lot to offer in terms of the economy, society, and environment. Cooperatives are sustainable enterprises that are owned and run by their membership, and are built on values that encourage cooperation, empowerment and solidarity, rather than just profits. He said that in considering the GDP, we should not just look at the economic, but also the social and environmental dimension. Among the areas to prioritize were sustainable food production, clean water, and agriculture infrastructure. He stressed on the need for digitization to provide knowledge to those left behind. He mentioned about the work that IFFCO had done during the pandemic to educate farmers on social distancing and ensure their needs were met. He said that the G20 Platform provides immense opportunities to contribute and collaborate with global players. He called on cooperatives to commit to work collaboratively towards ending hunger and promoting sustainable agriculture in line with the SDGs. The video recording from the webinar can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_RX-zZ7CQs..
