V.K. Daby, (Head of Follow-up Mission), Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Business Enterprise and Cooperatives, Govt. of Mauritius, visited NCUI on 8th January, 2014 to have interactions on wide-ranging issues of cooperative development with Dr. Dinesh, Chief Executive, NCUI and other senior officials of NCUI.
He was accompanied by Dr. Manoj Nardeo Singh, Secretary for Cooperative Development, Ministry of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives, Govt. of Mauritius . The objective of the visit was to explore the possibility of NCUI assisting the cooperative movement of Mauritius in reviewing its structure to come up with a strong apex body.
Another objective was to discuss the draft MoU to be signed between the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation of Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India and Ministry of Business, Enterprises and Cooperatives of the Republic of Mauritius on cooperation, cooperatives and related fields.
The officials from Mauritius informed that there are 1000 cooperatives in Mauritius with sugarcane cooperatives, credit unions, women cooperatives as important components of the movement. They said Mauritus is in the process of bringing in a Central Legislation on cooperatives, for which a study of legislations of other countries is being undertaken.
Dr. Dinesh, Chief Executive, NCUI came up with a power-point presentation on various activities/programmes of NCUI. The officials from Mauritius showed keen interest in learning from the growth of the cooperative movement in India. Mr. V.K. Daby, Head of Mission invited Dr. Dinesh to visit Mauritius to see the structure of the cooperative movement, and requested NCUI to provide support in setting-up an apex institution like NCUI, as Mauritus Cooperative Union is technically a federation, where the functions are mainly administrative, and not educational or training oriented like that of NCUI.
Dr. Dinesh mentioned the areas of education, and training where effective collaborations can be forged with Mauritius. He asked Mr. V.K. Dabey to send participants from Mauritius who are keen to attend the Diploma Programme of NCCE, which of late, has been attracting participants from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. The Mauritius officials agreed to send a specified number of participants to attend this program.
NCUI urged the Mauritius officials to send a detailed note on the structure of Cooperatives in Mauritius and the areas where they need training with the help of the NCUI expertise. Dr Dinesh said NCUI may provide sector-specific education materials helpful in the growth of cooperative education in Mauritius.
Mr. Dabey said ” Cooperative Excellence Awards” were initiated in Mauritius and around 235 nominations were received. Rather than Government-to-government, he desired movement-to-movement collaboration to strengthen the cooperative movement in both the countries. Mr. Nardeo Singh referred to the problem of greying population in Mauritius and emphasized the need for developing a strong cooperative leadership through active youth participation.
