New Delhi: In a major boost to Indian cooperative movement, as many as 75 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) were signed on the final day of the first ever 3-day ‘India International Cooperatives Trade Fair’ (IICTF) which was participated by 35 countries here.
The Fair offered a unique international marketing stage for cooperative-to-cooperative trade within India and abroad and witnessed a footfall of more than 35 thousand besides more than 4 thousand trade enquiries.
While addressing the conclusion ceremony, the Union Minister for Commerce and Industries Piyush Goyal called for discipline and professionalism in the cooperative sector. He said the foundation of the cooperative movement was laid by Sardar Patel.
Stating that there should be an International framework for expansion of the cooperatives, Goyal gave ideas on how indigenous and ethnic products produced by cooperatives can be marketed on e-commerce platforms.
Thematic sessions were held on Globalisation of Cooperative Trade, Cooperative Banking and Financial Inclusion, Empowerment of Youth and Women through Cooperatives, Agro-processing Ecosystem through Cooperatives, Agri-Tech and Climate Smart Agriculture through cooperatives, Cooperatives as Cost Effective and Efficient Service providers, Big Data and Cyber Security in Cooperative Sector, Dairy Cooperative Opportunities for Value Addition and Trade and Farm Mechanisation and Inputs Supply- Role of Cooperatives.
Over one billion people around the world are members of one or the other cooperative. More than 12% of humanity is part of any of the 3 million cooperatives in the world. Financial cooperatives serve 13 per cent of the world population while agricultural cooperatives produce 50 per cent of global agriculture output implying immense potential that exists in the sector for global trade.
-sb
