ICA team arrives; meets govt representatives & Indian co-operators

As expected, an ICA team arrived in India last week to fine-tune the global cooperative event scheduled to take place later this year. Ms. Gretchen Haqured, Director of Membership at ICA from the US, and Santosh Kumar, Director of Policy at ICA from Belgium, are in Delhi from 22nd to 25th April to deliberate about the conference.

Besides meeting the core team tasked with the successful organization of the event, they also met the Cooperation Secretary, Ashish Kumar Bhutani, and IFFCO MD Dr. U S Awasthi.

Meanwhile, preparations are underway for the forthcoming ICA Global Conference and General Assembly, scheduled to take place from 25th November to 30th November 2024 in New Delhi, India. The fertilizer cooperative giant IFFCO will host the event.

ICA officials were warmly welcomed by the ICA-AP President Dr. Chandra Pal Singh Yadav in the presence of ICA-AP Regional Director Balu Iyer, IFFCO Jt. GM (Cooperatives Development) Santosh Shukla, NCUI CE Sudhir Mahajan, Savitri Singh, and others.

The key highlights of the conference include the launching of the UN International Year of Cooperatives (IYC), an International Exposition of Cooperatives, and various thematic meetings focusing on cooperation between cooperatives in the 21st century.

An important ICA General Assembly meeting, as well as meetings of ICA’s Sectoral Organizations, Regional Offices, and Thematic Committees, will also be held.

It is reported that the Bharat Mandapam has been reserved as the venue for the global event, expected to attract over 1000 foreign delegates from approximately 100 countries.

Speaking to the Indian Cooperative, ICA-AP President Dr. Chandra Pal Singh said that all efforts would be made to ensure its success. Chandra Pal also revealed that, being a global event, their aim is to invite the Prime Minister to inaugurate the event.

Explaining further, Chandra Pal said that the government’s role assumes importance since more than 700 foreign delegates would require visas and related immigration assistance.

“We also plan to hold a Cooperative Exhibition on the occasion where we would showcase the roles performed by the cooperatives of the country,” said Yadav. He talked of forming a committee of ICA members from the country which includes IFFCO, Kribhco, Nafed, among others.

The meeting of the ICA team with Indian leaders took place at the NCUI headquarters and lasted for more than two hours. “This is just the beginning as we hope to tie up all loose ends before the actual event,” said Chandra Pal.