Members from 6 countries in the Asia-Pacific region received the president, Ariel Guarco in July and August. In total, he met with representatives from more than 40 sectorial or governmental entities.
The trip began in Thailand, where he met representatives of the Cooperative League, the Department of Promotion of the sector, the Confederation of Credit Cooperatives of Asia, ACCU and the Federation of Savings and Credit Coopératives.
On the next scale, Singapore, the agenda began in the National Cooperative Federation (SCNF). There he visited NTUC Health, which provides health and care services, and NTUC Learning, which provides trainings. He also went to a cooperative supermarket and met with members of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.
In Indonesia he was received by the national entity Dekopin, with the Federation of Batik production cooperatives, and with financial cooperatives. In addition, he met with a representative of the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs and visited the commercialization center for artisanal production.
The fourth destination was China, where he was received by the ACFSMC, which represents and markets the production of agricultural cooperatives; ACFHIC, which brings together suppliers’ cooperatives, industry and artisanal production; and the Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives. He also visited GXYJ, which develops e-commerce and services for Farmers.
In Korea, he had the chance to dialogue with representatives of the NACF, an entity that brings together agricultural cooperatives, the Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (NFFC) and KOSEA, the sectoral promotion agency. He also visited one of the NACF hypermarkets where they sell farmers' products; consumer and worker cooperatives.
In this country, Guarco spoke with representatives of the Secretariat of the Presidency for the Social Economy regarding the organization of the Global Cooperative Congress that will take place in Seoul, next year, marking the 125 years of the ICA.
The last destination of the tour was Japan, where he was at the headquarters of the Japanese Cooperative Alliance discussing with all national federations. He visited consumer, labor and agricultural cooperatives. He also met with members of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Since the President was elected in November 2017, he has visited around 40% of the members of the ICA.
“The leaders of the cooperative organizations have a responsibility to go to the territories, to talk face to face with the members. This is true both in a small cooperative and in the International Cooperative Alliance. Only in this way can we identify the concerns and carry out their proposals”, said Guarco at the end of the tour.
He also considered "key to accompany the ICA member organizations to talk with government leaders to help ensure that there are better policies, more budget and greater visibility of the cooperative sector in the institutional life of each country."
We would like to thank the support of the Asia-Pacific regional office on the tour.
More information on the COOPERAR website
On the website created exclusively for the tour from the Asia-Pacific regional office
