The final day of the General Assembly saw the election of two representatives to the International Co-operative Alliance’s board.
Albolhassan Khalili representing Iran and Janusz Paszkowski representing Poland were successfully elected at the biennial global gathering. Mr Khalili’s successful election bid is the first time that an Iranian has sat on the highest representative body of the ICA. On his election Mr Khalili said he was ‘really excited’ to be elected to his first international role. He said ‘I am keen to attract the trust and represent not only Iranian co-operatives, but co-operatives globally’.
Talking about the importance of ICA membership to Iran’s co-operative movement, Mr Khalili stressed the benefits for Iranian co-operators to be able to meet representatives from the global movement at the General Assembly meeting. He went on to say that he believed strongly that as Iran has more of a presence on a global co-operative stage, this would translate into growth for the co-operative movement in his country.
Mr Janusz Paszkowski from Poland was also elected to the ICA’s board. Mr Paszkowski who was already serving on the board having been co-opted, said he was delighted to be re-elected to represent the eight million co-operators in his country. He said he was particularly keen to find ways to spread co-operative solidarity globally, especially in the context of the current legal issues that the Polish co-operative movement has faced over the last year.
