Development history

On April 11, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh wrote a letter to Vietnamese farmers and landlords calling upon for their participation in agricultural cooperatives. After His call, a series of cooperative economic units  were formed and cooperatives had strongly developed during 50s-60s of the twentieth century. Along with the development of cooperative movement in Vietnam, management agencies, representative and supporting organizations for cooperatives have been gradually formed and developed. In 1955 the Co-operative Management Board of Vietnam was established. In 1961, the Vietnam Union of small  scale Handicraft and Industry was established. These were two national organizations that managed, represented and supported supplying and marketing cooperatives and small handicraft and industry cooperatives in the whole country. On December 18, 1991, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers ( now it is the Government  Prime Minister) issued Decision No. 409 /CT for establishing the Provisional Central Council of Non-State Enterprises on the basis of the unification of the Central Union of small scale handicraft and industry cooperatives and Vietnam  Management Board of supplying and marketing cooperatives. On 30/10/1993, the first National Congress of Vietnam Cooperatives was conducted. The Congress has approved the By-law of the Central Council of Vietnam Cooperative Union - that it is an organization supporting, representing and protecting the interests and rights for cooperatives in the fields of small scale handicraft and industry, transportation, trading and services, construction and other non-agricultural occupations. The By-law of the Central Council of Vietnam Cooperative Union was approved by the Prime Minister in the Decision No. 582-TTg / QD dated December 1st, 1993. Up to now, the By- law of Vietnam Cooperative Alliance was approved by the Prime Minister in Decision 105 / QD-TTg dated 24 January 2017.Since the first Cooperative Law passed by the National Assembly in 1996, which came into force on January 1, 1997, to the Law on Cooperatives in 2003 and the Law on Cooperatives in 2012 have created a more favorable legal corridor for the development of the cooperative sector.