ACCU: Koyte does India proud; elected Treasurer of global body

The well-known face in Maharashtra Cooperative circles and President of State Federation of Cooperative Credit Societies (MAFCOCS) Omprakash Dadappa Alias Kaka Koyte brought laurels for India’s Cooperative Movement, by securing a berth on the board of Association of Asian Confederation of Credit Unions (ACCU), in which International Cooperative Alliance is also one of its supporters among others.

The elections of the board of directors were held on Wednesday at the Association’s 149th Annual General Meeting at Bangkok, Thailand. Following his election to the board of the Association, Koyte was made its Treasurer. He replaced A.D.Walasinghe from Sri Lanka.

In the elections, for five seats on the board of directors, eleven candidates were in the fray and Koyte won the election with huge margins. It is for the first time in the history of the Association, that India’s representative got elected to the board of ACCU.

Talking to the Indian Cooperative correspondent from Bangkok, Koyte said, “I have been elected as a director on the board of Association which has members from 32 countries. I have been associated with the cooperative sector for 36 years and I have been holding the position as a President of MAFCOCS for 14 years. I will put in efforts to take India’s credit cooperative movement to International Level ”.

Meanwhile, there has been no change at the top level of the association in that its top job has once again gone to Younsik Kim who hails from Korea. Among 190 supporters, 136 are from Korea. Whereas Koyate’s federation is a regular member and Buldana Urban & Samata Nagari Sahakari Patsanstha Maryadit Co-operative from India are the supporter members of ACCU

Koyate was accompanied by Adv. Anjali Patil, Chairperson, Maharashtra based Kalyani Mahila Nagari Sahakari Patsanstha and Surekha Lawande, Chief Executive Officer of MAFCOCS

As per the policy, the Board of Directors regularly meets in person twice a year and electronic meetings are held as the need arises. Due to the pandemic, the Board met virtually on September 23, 2020, 104th on March 10, 2021, and 105th on June 8, 2021

The theme of this year’s Forum is ‘Greener, Inclusive, Resilient Path to Covid-19 Recovery’ for cooperatives. The event was hosted by the Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperatives of Thailand (FSCT) and the Credit Union League of Thailand (CULT). Over 300 delegates attended the meeting from 16 countries.