Top co-operators gravitate to ICA AP 60th B’Day celebrations

The International Cooperative Alliance Asia-Pacific (ICA-AP) celebrated its 60th year with a webinar on November 13, in which representatives from all the member countries participated.

The Regional Office has been situated in India from the start with branch offices in Singapore and Malaysia. Starting with 7 members from 6 countries, the ICA-AP today serves 109-member organizations from 32 countries.

Balasubramanian Iyer, Regional Director welcomed the participants and said that the pillars of support for the region were the 109 members from 32 countries who provide sustained support, the international community of cooperatives from all the ICA regions, our regional board members and leaders for their steadfast direction, our partners for their solid engagement, and staff for their unrelenting commitment, he added.

President Ariel Guarco of ICA in his message congratulated the region and said that during his visits he had the opportunity to meet dedicated members who were steadfastly committed to principles and upholding the cooperative identity.

Li Chunsheng, ICA-AP President extended his greetings and said the setting up of the regional office was a reflection of the global cooperative community to boost social and economic development across regions.

Sung-hee Lee, Chairman of National Cooperative Federation (NACF) Korea said that the NACF owed its existence to the successful cooperative models which were passed on from other countries and enabled NACF to grow into the top 10 cooperatives in the world.

Chandrapal Singh Yadav, President NCUI and Vice President ICA-AP extended his greetings and recollected the role played by NCUI as the apex organization in India right from ICA-AP’s early days. The Indian Cooperative movement currently has 14 members in the ICA, who contribute immensely in the development and growth of cooperatives.

N. Satyanarayana, CE, NCUI spoke about NCUI’s role from the beginning and the role played by the current 14 members. He spoke of the Blueprint for a Cooperative Decade in providing direction to the cooperative movement and the role in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Dr U.S. Awasthi, Managing Director, IFFCO in his congratulatory message spoke of their close engagement with the regional and global office of ICA. IFFCO has played an important part in supporting activities, chairing committees, helping during natural disasters, and in advocacy. Awasthi also spoke of the need for cooperatives to look at issues around technology, climate change and global warming and in development of business opportunities.

Nandini Azad, Chairperson of the ICA-AP Women Committee traced the history of the women committee activities over the past 23 years, the support received from JCCU and the work carried out to increase the presence of women at leadership levels.

The segment, Voices from the Past, featured staff who served at the Regional Office. Drs. Robby Tulus, Regional Director (1996-2001) spoke of the challenging times the region had to face due to various economic crises. Chan-Ho Choi, Regional Director (2010-2014) spoke of his exciting time in seeing the region celebrate the International Year of Cooperatives in 2012. A.H. Ganesan, Program Officer (1962-1999) spoke of his long association with the Regional Office and having witnessed the 25th anniversary, 50th anniversary and now the 60th anniversary!

Others who spoke on the occasion included Amano Haruyoshi of the International Department of JCCU, Ms. Simel Esim, Manager ILO Coop, Toru Nakaya from Japan, Data Fattah Abdullah, President Angkasa , Khin Maung Aye, Chairman of the Central Cooperative Society, Myanmar, Sarath Weerasiri from Sri Lanka, among others.

Min Raj Kadel, Chairman, National Cooperative Federation of Nepal, Kok Kwong Kwek, Chairman, Singapore National Cooperative Federation, Bhima Subhramanyam, Chairman, International Cooperative Banking Association, Alireza Baneifar from the Iran Chamber of Cooperatives also spoke on the occasion.

Balasubramanian Iyer in his closing remarks thanked the participants for joining the celebrations and for the greetings, well wishes, and congratulatory messages! Messages were received from the Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals, Australia; the Cooperative Business New Zealand; Cooperative Institute of Malaysia, National Federation of University Cooperatives Association, Japan; and the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance.

The webinar was hosted by Savitri Singh and Simren Singh from ICA-AP; sessions moderated by Mohit Dave, ICA-AP; Prof. Yeshwanth Dongre, and Mallika Kumar, Shri Ram College of Commerce; and supported by Shivali Sarna and Shree Padmanabhan.

(Based on inputs from Balu Iyer, RD ICA AP and Rohit Gupta)