KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 (Bernama) — Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Bhd (ANGKASA) has urged that the International Cooperatives Year 2025 festivities be turned into a launching point to strengthen regional cooperation.
Its president, Datuk Seri Dr Abdul Fattah Abdullah said it is specifically to expand digital commerce and build e-commerce capabilities in the cooperatives movement.
The International Cooperatives Alliance Asia Pacifice (ICA-AP) committee chairman made the suggestion during ANGKASA’s participation at the ICA Exhibition and Cooperative Forum at China International Import Expo (CIIE) 2025 from Nov 4 to 9 at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre in Shanghai.
In a presentation entitled ‘Asia Pacific: Strengthening the Framework for Cooperative Trade’ at the forum, Abdul Fattah said cooperatives were not only economic entities but also agents of social development with a role of raising the community’s well-being based on the values of togetherness, social responsibility and economic justice.
At the global stage, the cooperatives movement now encompasses over one billion members and created 280 million jobs, or 12 per cent of the global workforce.
In the Asia Pacific, over 180 cooperative members play important roles in ensuring food security, building community resilience and driving people-centric sustainable economic growth, he said.
“As such, the ICA-AP Trade and Business Committee plays an important role as a major player in strengthening cooperative trade networks at the regional level. It functions as a bridge that connects cooperatives of various countries, encourages exchange of knowledge, digital innovation and strengthens the standing of cooperatives in international trade policies.
“For instance, the Malaysian Business Office (MBO) approved by ICA-AP in Kobe, Japan in 2013, jointly-led by officials from China, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, has become a major operations centre for cooperatives trade activities,” he said in a statement.
Since its founding, MBO has organised various trade missions, worskshops, exhibitions and business matching sessions that opened new opportunities and strengthened collaboration between cooperatives in the Asia Pacific region, he said, while admitting there were still challenges in creating a truly inclusive cooperatives trade framework.
“To tackle this, integration of cooperatives at national and regional trade policies, facilitation of cross-border standards and certification, digital readiness and capacity, strengthening financing resources and cooperatives investment can strengthen competitiveness of regional cooperatives in the global economy that is driven by digital transformation,” he said.
The forum and exhibition organised by ICA together with All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Co-operatives (ACFSMC) as well as the National Association of Cooperatives and Other Forms of Economic Communities of Kazakhstan, received the support of the Shanghai Municipal Federation of Supply and Marketing Co-operatives and China-ASEAN Chamber of Agricultural Commerce (CACAC).
The ANGKASA delegation is scheduled to visit Shanghai Sanyang Co-op and National Specialty Food Store to explore new strategic opportunities in the agricultural, halal food and digital commerce sectors for Malaysian cooperatives, and will participate in the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Forum and special exhibition at CIIE 2025.
— BERNAMA
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