Cooperative leaders of Asia and Pacific representing countries like China, Japan and South Korea met for most of Tuesday at Delhi’s upscale Ashoka Hotel to talk about how to strengthen the cooperative movement in the region.
If one happens to walk through the lobby of the Hotel Ashoka every other man that one would meet would be a cooperator from one of the 28 countries whose delegates are attending the event. Several halls of the Hotel are filled with these confabulating cooperators.
If in one hall the board meeting is in progress, in others Committee Meetings are going on. ICA A-P has en passant committees such as University Committee, research Committee, Youth Committee and Women’s committee, to name only a few.
”These Committees have useful meetings and you must attend them to inform your readers of various activities being undertaken by cooperatives,” said Balu Aiyer the RD of ICA A-P and a busy man to this correspondent.
Soon after the Board meeting a media interaction took place in which cooperators explained about their activities.
The Chairman of ICA A-P Mr Li Chunsheng- a cooperator of Chinese nationality thanked the media for evincing a keen interest in cooperatives. Complementing the robust cooperative movement of India he said it is not only a major player in Asia-Pacific but also in the world.
“We from the 92 co-op organizations drawn from 28 countries meet every couple of years not only to elect a new board but also to strengthen the cooperative movement in the region”, said Mr Chunsheng. ”We represent 500 million individual members and their communities,” he added.
He thanked NCUI President Chandra Pal Singh for organizing a successful show. It was at his request that the Regional Assembly is taking place in India after two decades. The first Regional Assembly took place in Delhi in 1995. Chunsheng also named Balu for the successful holding of the Assembly in Delhi.
ICA A-P is going to elect a new Board on 18th November. Twelve nominations have come so far, informed Balu. The election of Chairman and Vice Chairman would follow the elections of the Board members. The RD also reportedly suggested a consensus on the choice of Chairman and Vice Chairman as the best course to uphold the ideals of cooperative.
Referring to the earthquake in Nepal where co-operatives played a major role in relief operations Balu lamented the fact that cooperative becomes copy for the media only when a natural calamity strikes. “ICA A-P has done 40 capacity building exercises in the last one year besides a host of other activities including participating in SAARC and ASIANS conferences but we never find a mention in media reports.”
NCUI President and Vice Chairman of ICA A-P also explained the role being played by cooperatives in India to media.
