Opening the International Cooperative Alliance - Asia-Pacific (ICA-AP) Registrar Forum

 H.E. Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue, Politburo member, Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the Steering Committee for renovation, collective and cooperative economy development; H.E. Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung, Party Central Committee member, Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam have participated in the Openning ceremony of the Forum. The Forum is co-organized by Vietnam Cooperative Alliance (VCA), the International Cooperative Alliance - Asia-Pacific (ICA-AP) and the Institute of Organic Agriculture Economics. The Forum attracted more than 300 domestic delegates and more than 100 cooperative organizations from 33 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region.

 In this Forum, participants focused on discussing the development trend and impact on the cooperative sector in the 21st century; identify legal and policy issues affecting cooperatives in implementing sustainable development objectives; exchanging experiences of Asia-Pacific countries in creating a favorable environment and developing cooperative ecosystems; government policies and cooperative activities to address current economic and social issues; At the same time, proposing the solutions and action plans, specific and actual implementation roadmap in the coming years at the national and Asia - Pacific levels.

This is also an opportunity for regional countries and international organizations to better understand the cooperatives and cooperative economy of Vietnam. At the same time, Vietnam will also learn more information and cooperative models from other countries to propose the legal framework and create a favorable environment for the development of cooperatives and cooperative economy in Vietnam.

According to Mr. Le Thanh, Director of Vietnam Institute of Organic Agriculture Economics, rural areas in Vietnam have very small and fragmented land area, so it is difficult to mechanize at large scale. With the role of building and coordinating resources for the whole value chain of the vegetable and fruit industry, Vietnam Institute of Organic Agriculture Economics is trying to coordinate with enterprises and management agencies to provide comprehensive support for cooperatives, from seedlings, technology and output, .... The Institute is cooperating with Lavifood company to develop a model  in Tay Ninh province as a typical example for that model.

At the Forum, representatives from Lavifood Joint Stock Company, Institute of Organic Agriculture Economics, Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), ... also signed agreements with Vietnam Cooperative Alliance to implement support activities for  cooperatives development in Vietnam.

Speaking at the Forum, Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue emphasized: by choosing Vietnam as the host country of the Forum, it is showing the recognition of the international community for the efforts of Vietnam. Currently, the Government and ministries are making great efforts, but the policies on land, credit, management training and taxes… have not been implemented properly. The legal framework is still limited. At the moment, the number of effective cooperatives is limited, the management staff are at the old ages and training activities for cooperatives are facing a lot of difficulties.  The Deputy Prime Minister requested that after the Forum, Vietnam Cooperative Alliance should make proposals to the Government to improve the legal framework for cooperatives, strengthen and bring into full play of its role for the cooperative development in Vietnam. Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue also attended the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Trade Promotion Fair for Cooperatives 2019 at Hoa Lu Sports Center, District 1 with a scale of more than 350 booths of domestic and international cooperatives in such fields agriculture, forestry and fisheries, salt production, industry and handicraft.