An Asia-Pacific Regional Seminar on “COOP: Building a Better World” was organized by the Cooperative League of Thailand (CLT), and the Cooperative Promotion Department (CPD), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Royal Government of Thailand, in collaboration with the International Cooperative Alliance, Asia and Pacific (ICA-AP), on the occasion of Centenary Celebration of Thailand Cooperative Movement and the 94th International Cooperative Day Celebration, in Bangkok, Thailand, during 4-8 July 2016. 

46 foreign delegates from Bhutan, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and more than 125 delegates from Thailand attended the event.

The program was inaugurated by  Mr. Theeraphat  Prayurasiddthi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Royal Government of Thailand. Dr. Kouk Donsamran, Chairman of CLT, presented a report on  the Thai Cooperative Movement.  The two keynote speeches were delivered by Mr. Li Chunsheng, President of ICA-AP, on COOP: Building a Better World and by Dr. Kriengsak Chareonwongsak on “Centenary of Thai Cooperatives and UN SDGs.  Mr. Balu Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP introduced the ICA Vision of 2020. In the afternoon session, a panel discussion was organized on “Role of Cooperatives and Sustainable Development in Asia”, which was moderated by Dr. Asanee Ratanamalai, former Executive Director, CLT, and the panelists were Mr. Balu Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP, Mr. C.V. Nathan, Chairman of SASCO, Singapore and Dr. Kouk Donsamran, Chairman of CLT.   Country papers were presented on July 6 by the representatives of each country present on COOP: Building a Better World for Sustainable Development, which was summarized by Mr. Balu Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP.  On July 7, a field study visit was arranged to Klong Luang Agriculural Cooperative Ltd. (Rice Milling) – a primary cooperative and to the Bang Sai Royal Folk Arts and Crafts Centre.