On the 19 December, Indonesian members passed the baton to the Indian members to continue cooperatives’ engagement in the G20 discussions under the Indian G20 Presidency. The meeting was held online under the auspices of the ICA G20 Cooperative Working Group with some of the members that took part in the previous editions of the G20 sharing their experiences and exchanging knowledge with the Indian members.
Sharing their experiences during the the Indonesian G20 Presidency , Ms Eva Sundari, the Vice-Chair of the ICA G20 Working Group, highlighted that cooperatives took part in three Working Groups of the C20 and the Development Working Group of the G20. They were also involved in the B20 discussions but at a later stage. They created good relationships with the C20 Sherpa and the Chairs of the Working Groups that they participated in and always invited them to speak during the side-events that they organized.
From India, Dr. Chandrapal Singh Yadav, President of ICA Asia-Pacific, and Mr Shri Dileep Sanghani, President of National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), celebrated the start of the G20 Presidency of India and claimed the alignment of its theme "One Earth, One Family, One Future" with cooperative values and principles. They both committed to engage actively in the working groups and share experiences and learnings with the wider cooperative movement.
Dr. Chandrapal Singh Yadav stressed the importance of the cooperative movement in the Indian economy, particularly in rural areas. And Mr Shri Dileep Sanghani said that it is a good opportunity for the Indian cooperative movement to take the lead and place cooperatives in the G20 discussions. He also hoped that engagement stablishes partnerships with different countries and political leaders.
The meeting also saw the participation of representatives of the Italian Cooperative Alliance to share their experiences during the Italian G20 Presidency in 2021. Mr Giuseppe Guerini, 2021 Vice-Chair for C20, and Ms Danila Curcio, 2021 Facilitator for C20, presented the results of the participation of Italian cooperative movement in the C20 as well as valuable recommendations for the upcoming presidencies. During the Italian Presidency, cooperatives were mentioned five times in the final C20 Policy Pack which was a great success.
Similarly, Mr Shaun Tarbuck, CEO of ICMIF, and Dr Carlos Zarco, President of IHCO, shared key insights about their own experiences from participating in various B20 task forces since 2014. They highlighted the importance of cooperatives as business enterprises taking part in the B20 taskforces and be recognized for the contribution towards sustainable development.
Mr Howard Brodsky, Chair of the ICA G20 Cooperative Working Group, stressed the importance of cooperatives leverage in this international forum given its global impact. He also claimed that more recognition for cooperatives can be achieved considering their impact on the real economy.
Finally, Mr Bruno Roelants, ICA Director General, noted the satisfaction of seeing that the ICA G20 WG has not only fulfilled the goals foreseen when it was created two years ago – to generate a space for information and coordination -, but it is mobilizing additional countries. He also called to increase efforts to bridge policy actions in G20 and UN forums.
Learn more about the ICA G20 Cooperative Working Group here.
