The 13th ICA-Asia and Pacific Regional Cooperative Conference, which is taking place under a shadow of US sanction, held the meetings of nine specialized committees on its second day in Tehran. Mr. Li Chunsheng, Chairman, ICA-Asia Pacific was also present.
The fear of US sanction has forced several countries and even some Board members of the regional body to skip the Assembly meeting. Fearing American wrath representatives of Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Nepal and some more member-countries have given it a miss. Even from India the number of cooperators visiting Iran is much less compared to the last Assembly.
The nine committees that had their meetings on Tuesday were in the fields of agriculture, human resources development, university cooperation, consumers, gender, forestry, credit and banking, young people cooperation, and research, as announced by Iran Chamber of Cooperative.
As reported earlier, ICA A-P’s 13th Regional Assembly kicked off in Tehran on Monday, in which more than 400 cooperators from across the regions of Asia Pacific are participating.
While there are more than 300 Iranian participants, the Assembly has about 170 representatives from 25 countries. It is being held at IRIB Conference Center in Tehran. Starting November 26, it would be wound up on November 30th.
Mr. Li Chunsheng, Chairman, ICA-Asia Pacific somehow missed to be present on the inaugural day. In his place the Vice-Chairman of ICA A-P Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav presided over the meeting on the first day. A large number of Indian cooperators are also present in the Assembly including Sunil Singh who has sent some representative photographs of the event to Indian Cooperative.
Countries participating in ICA A-P’s Regional Assembly include India, China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, among others. The event is being organized by the Iran Chamber of Cooperative.
The theme of 13th ICA-AP Regional Assembly is “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies”. The Regional Assembly, a central policy making and representative body brings together all members once every two years, providing them a platform for discussing multiple issues concerning development and growth of co-operative organisations as well as opportunity for networking and forming alliances for mutual benefit, reads the website dedicated for the event.
The Regional Assembly plays a vital role in strengthening the democratic governance process of cooperatives in the region by building consensus on issues and approving the agenda after discussion to the satisfaction of all members, claims ICA A-P.
The first Regional Assembly was held in 1995 and the tradition continues since then. The Regional Assembly encompasses the Cooperative Forum and various events organized by the ICA-AP Regional Committees.