1st national co-op meet from Tuesday

KATHMANDU, MAR 24 -

The Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation will be organizing the First National Cooperative Congress in the capital from March 25. The three-day conference is expected to strengthen relations and develop coordination between the government and stakeholders engaged in the development of cooperatives besides identifying problems and prescribing solutions.

The ministry is holding the meet in association with the National Cooperative Federation of Nepal, the National Cooperative Development Board and the Department of Cooperatives. A 19-member steering committee has been formed under the prime minister for the purpose. President Ram Baran Yadav is scheduled to inaugurate the event which will host more than 800 representatives from domestic and foreign agencies. Foreign participants will include Dame Pauline Green, president of the International Cooperative Alliance and Simon E Parera, president of the Association of Asian Confederation of Credit Unions. Other foreign delegates will include stakeholders in the cooperative movement from the UK, China, South Korea, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Keshab Badal, co-chairman of the congress, said the conference would envision a prospective plan for the cooperative movement till 2020. “Besides, it will discuss how we can enhance good governance in the sector in order to promote qualitative and competitive production business through cooperatives ,” he said. There are 29,526 cooperatives operating in the country. Due to lack of proper

legal provisions, a number of these cooperatives are engaged in malpractices thereby risking people's deposits held by them.

 Cooperatives Secretary Lal Mani Joshi said paper presentations by distinguished personalities during the programme could help provide recommendations for the draft Cooperative Act which is under consideration.

Source: The Kathmandu Post