Vanuatu Office of the Registrar of Cooperatives and Business Development Services joins the International Co-operative Alliance

The Alliance is proud to welcome its new associate government member, the Office of the Registrar of Cooperatives and Business Development Services (ORCBDS) from Vanuatu, which has joined in February 2015.ORCBDS is a government department established to assist with rural economic development, and includes the department of NI-Vanuata Business. Currently the department dedicates most of its time to cooperative societies because the Cooperative Act mandates ORCBDS to assist and promote business activities for cooperative societies and its members.Their mission is to facilitate sustainable growth in co-operative business and to advance the interests of Vanuata citizens both domestically and internationally by:

• Promoting increased rural savings and investment through co-operative savings and loans societies
• Encouraging the establishment and diversification of Ni-Vanuatu business
• Supporting co-operative societies by providing advisory and business appraisal services

Statistics on the movement in Vanuatu in 2012:

• There are 421 co-operative societies in Vanuatu
• They have 14,967 individual members
• Their turnover is VUV 926,118,452 (7,434,500)

For more information: http://www.cooperative.gov.vu/