In the meeting of the ICA 2023 General Assembly currently underway in Brussels, Belgium, IFFCO MD Dr U S Awasthi advocated the primacy of Indian Cooperative movement at the global level and sought the Prime Minister’s vision of “Prosperity through co-operatives” to be put centre-stage. India will host the next ICA Global Board meeting, General Assembly and international Conference in June 2024, declared Awasthi in a tweet.
Given his personal charm backed by IFFCO’s international reputation, the world leaders of cooperatives acceded to Dr Awasthi’s request and decided to hold all the top co-op events of the ICA next year on Indian soil. After G20, India hosting ICA’s Board meeting as well as General Assembly are no mean feats, commented several co-operators familiar with ICA’s activities.
Buoyed with the development, which augurs well for the cooperative movement of the country and is in line with the Prime Minister and Cooperation Minister’s vision of uplifting the downtrodden sections of society through the tools of co-operatives, IFFCO MD Dr Awasthi tweeted “I am glad to share a Historic & A proud Moment for Indian Cooperatives as with efforts from IFFCO; The Board of International Cooperative Alliance @icacoop has unanimously accepted our offer to hold ICA Global Board, General Assembly and An International Conference for the 1st time in 128 year history of ICA at New Delhi, India in June 2024.”
“It’s really a wow moment for Indian Cooperatives”, shouted several co-operators in their replies to Awasthi’s tweet. Hosting the ICA Global Board meeting, General Assembly and international Conference in India in June 2024 for the first time in the history of ICA in 128 years is no mean achievement, netizens said.
The event is being compared to the G20 Presidency of India in cooperative terms. ICA is a global body which represents the cooperative movement of the world. The International Cooperative Alliance unites, represents and serves cooperatives worldwide, reads its website.
Founded in 1895, it is one of the oldest non-governmental organisations and one of the largest ones measured by the number of people represented: 1 billion cooperative members on the planet.
It is the apex body representing cooperatives, which are estimated to be around 3 million worldwide, providing a global voice and forum for knowledge, expertise and co-ordinated action for and about cooperatives.
Prior to the ICA’s Belgium meeting, Indian Cooperative had written in these columns that IFFCO MD Dr U S Awasthi was likely to attend the General Assembly. But we had no clue that Dr Awasthi is going there with a mission of making the mantra of PM’s Prosperity through Co-operatives, a global experience.
