A seminar on ‘Enhancing sustainable agricultural supply chains through partnership among Co-operatives in Asia and the Pacific was organized jointly by International Cooperative Alliance Asia Pacific (ICA AP) Trade and Business Committee and the Network for Development of Agricultural Cooperative in Asia and the Pacific (NEDAC) recently in Manila,Philippines.
Those present in the Seminar included ICA President Mr Ariel Guarco, ICA AP President, Chandra Pal Singh Yadav and Vice President ICA and Chairperson ANGKASA Malaysia Dr. Abdul Fattah Abdullah.
NCUI President Dileep Sanghani, Nafed Chairman, Bijender Singh, NEDAC Vice Chairman Mr K B Upreti, National Cooperative Federation of Nepal Chairman and ICA AP Board Member Mr Min Raj Khanel, ICBA President Mr Bhima Subramanian, Regional Director ICA AP Mr Balu Iyer were also present on this occasion.
NEDAC Honorary Director Dr Krishna Salin, Hafed General Manager Karnail Singh Lathar, Director NCUI Shri Ritesh Dey and many Cooperative Leaders and Functionaries and dignitaries from the Asia Pacific region also participated in the Seminar.
The three eminent speakers viz. Dr Lionel Dabbadie, FAO Representative in Philippines, Mr Ray Relevazo, Deputy Administrator, Institutional Development Service of Cooperative Development Authority of Philippines and Mr ZulkifleeBin Aspen, Director of Cooperative Institute of Malaysia spoke on challenges related to Food Security, Poverty Reduction, Environment sustainability and stressed on to align the efforts of all stakeholders through partnership Co-operatives.
Cooperative Leaders and Functionaries also took part in this important Seminar of ICA AP and NEDAC suggesting ways through which Co-operatives can have meaningful collaboration among themselves to help enhance sustainable agriculture supply chains are- :
1. Cross sectional knowledge and technology sharing and learning of best practices from each other.
2. Building strong Network and Partnership at regional, national and international levels among Co-operatives in the Region.
3. Joint marketing initiatives to gain better market reach and increase negotiation capacity among farming community
4. Jointly invest and adopt modern agricultural technologies and techniques for sustainable farming practices
5. Working together by pooling resources as Consortium and also optimising expenses and co-branding among Co-operatives on the principle “Cooperation among Co-operatives”. 
