The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of an Inter-Governmental Agreement between India and Mauritius on cooperation in cooperatives and related fields, a PIB release read.
The Agreement between the two countries will be for a duration of five years after which it will be automatically extended for another five years. The Agreement provides for promoting cooperation through short and medium term programmes within the framework of the joint activities mentioned in the Agreement. A work plan will be drawn up by mutual Agreement between the two parties to give effect to the objectives of this Agreement.
The Government of Mauritius has shown keen Interest to develop Institutional Mechanism between Cooperative Development Fund (CDF) set up by it and National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) so as to benefit from NCUI’s experience in Cooperative Development.
A joint meeting was held in September, 2012 in Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare followed by Ministerial level meeting after a year (in September, 2013) for discussing the possibility of signing an MoU between the two countries.
Earlier, Mr. Soomilduth Bholah, Minister of Business, Enterprise & Cooperatives of Republic of Mauritius accompanied by Permanent Secretary of Ministry and the High Commissioner of Mauritius New Delhi visited NCUI and met Dr. Chandra Pal Singh Yadav President, NCUI. Yadav was accompanied by the Vice-Presidents of NCUI.
NCUI President, stressed upon the need to enhance the ties of friendship between India & Mauritius for strengthening bilateral relations. He informed the Mauritian delegation about the pioneering role of NCUI in promoting the cooperative education & training through the network of 20 Cooperative Training Institutions of NCCT and National Centre for Cooperative Education of NCUI. He also informed them that the personnel from the Mauritian Cooperative sector have been participating in various Management Development and other programmes organized by NCCT & NCCE.
The President had also proposed signing a MoU between the two countries for benefitting from each other’s experiences. The President also invited the Minister and delegates to participate in the forthcoming ICA – AP Regional Assembly to be held in New Delhi during November 2016.
Mr. Soomilduth Bholah informed that there are 1200 cooperative societies at Primary & Secondary level having membership of 1.3 million and cooperatives are active in agricultural services, fisheries and most importantly as credit unions.