ICA-AP Regional Board Meeting in New Delhi, India
On 28 November 2024, the ICA-AP Regional Board Meeting was convened on the sidelines of the ICA Global Cooperative Conference (GCC) and General Assembly (GA). Board members from Australia, India, China, Malaysia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Philippines, and Vietnam attended in person.
Mr. Dileep Sanghani, President of IFFCO and NCUI, warmly welcomed all the delegates. Dr. Ariel Guarco, ICA President, in his remarks, thanked IFFCO and the Indian cooperative movement for their generous support in hosting the conference. Mr. Jeroen Douglas, ICA Director General, thanked the board for inviting him to the meeting and requested to attend one regional board meeting every year to be better informed and share key regional agendas with the global board.
 Dr. Chandrapal Singh Yadav, ICA-AP President and the meeting Chairperson, welcomed participants to the ICA-AP Regional Board Meeting. He reflected on significant recent events, including the ICA GCC and the launch of the IYC 2025, encouraging members to actively engage in IYC activities. Dr. Yadav shared updates on his engagements across the region and globally. He addressed challenges faced by the Regional Office, including FCRA registration and financial issues, noting collaborative steps taken to resolve them.
Key agenda items of this meeting included reviewing the ICA-AP 2025 Plan and Budget, updates on IYC 2025 activities, ongoing EU collaborations, and preparations for the ICA-AP Regional Assembly and Board elections in Sri Lanka next year.
The Board approved the agenda and confirmed the minutes of the previous board meeting held in July 2024 in Vietnam. The Chairperson of the ICA-AP Committee on Women and Committee on Youth Cooperation presented a update on the activities undertaken and plans for the future. The board appreciated the work done by the youth and women committees.
Mr. Balasubramanian Iyer, ICA-AP Regional Director, reported on ICA-AP activities undertaken after the last board meeting, membership and the subscription status. He informed the board about the admission of four new members from the region. He presented updates on ICAâs new proposal to calculate membership fees and voting rights of members. The discussion raised questions about how changes might affect voting rights and the upcoming elections. Dr. Yadav emphasized the need for proposals to be shared with Regional Board for discussion before the ICA General Assembly.
The Board members had fruitful discussions around the observance of IYC2025 and  proposed ideas for engaging activities, such as assigning each month of the year to a different country and active promotion of cooperatives throughout the year. The regional updates included planned celebrations in Japan, and Mr. Iyer encouraged board members to participate in these events.
The ICA-AP Strategic Plan for 2025-2030 was briefly discussed, with more work needed, the Board decided to have a separate discussion on this agenda. Preparations for the ICA-AP Regional Assembly in Sri Lanka in November 2025 were also discussed, along with the voting system for AP elections.
The next regional board meeting will be held on 18 February 2025 in Tokyo, Japan in a hybrid mode.