Second Asia-Pacific Cooperative Registrars’ Forum (Source: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – Domestic and foreign delegates to the secondAsia-Pacific Cooperative Registrars’ Forum in Ho Chi Minh City on April 18 emphasisedthe need to complete a legal framework to facilitate the development andeffective operations of cooperatives.
SharingVietnam’s cooperative development situation, Director of the Vietnam Instituteof Organic Agriculture Economics Le Thanh said that Vietnam now has 22,456cooperatives, a half of which are operating effectively.
Inthe past three years, 2,000-2,500 new cooperatives were established each year.It is expected that Vietnam will have around 60,000 cooperatives with 20million members by 2030, Thanh stated.
However,cooperatives are facing difficulties in gaining access to bank loans to serveagricultural restructuring, he stressed, adding that the lack of capital isalso hampering cooperatives’ logistics activities.
NguyenManh Cuong, Vice President of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, underlined thatan enabling legal framework would better connect domestic and foreigncooperatives, especially in hi-tech agriculture, thus helping cooperativesexpand their export markets.
AnnApps from Newcastle University of Australia and Lebbe Naseer and Commissionerof Cooperative Development & Registrar of Sri Lanka Suleiman Lebbe Naseershared that both Australia and Sri Lanka have their own Law on Cooperatives tosupport the inclusive role of cooperatives in socio-economic development.
Mostparticipants agreed that more measures should be taken to promote sustainablefood production, create more jobs, and develop business in the cooperativemodel.
Thesecond Asia-Pacific Cooperative Registrars’ Forum was held from April 16-19under the theme “Creating Enabling Legal Framework and Policies to PromoteSustainable Development of Co-operatives in the 21st Century”, by the VietnamCo-operative Alliance, the International Co-operative Alliance Asia-Pacific(ICA-AP) and the Vietnam Institute of Organic Agricultural Economics. -VNA
VNA
