At the Forum in Bishkek.

The ICA-AP and the Cooperatives Union of Kyrgyzstan (CUK) will jointly organize the Forum on Development of Co-operatives in central Asia from 30 June to 2 July 2017 in Bishkek and Issyk Kul in Kyrgyz Republic. Central Asian countries like Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are expected to participate along with participants from the Turkish Co-operative Union, the International Labor Organization, the European Union Delegation to Kyrgyz Republic and other development agencies. The forum is funded by the Japanese Consumer Co-operative Union (JCCU) and the ICA-EU Partnership on Co-operatives in Development. The occasion will also be used by co-operators gathered to celebrate the theme of inclusion on July 1, 2017 during the International Day of Co-operatives.

Central Asian countries share customary practices of cooperation represented by their communitarian traditional institutions. During the Soviet Union period, cooperation was represented by state-controlled consumer co-operatives (potrebsoyuz) and collective farms (kolkhozes, sovkhozes). After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Central Asian co-operatives are represented mainly by agricultural co-operatives and credit unions. The Forum is a platform for co-operative leaders, governments, and stakeholders to review the status and scope of co-operative movements in the region and develop a forward-looking strategy for the co-operatives to align well with the emerging trends of the global market. The Forum will look at best practices with an eye to scale-up and ways to create an enabling environment for the further development of co-operatives. Besides information sharing, the Forum will address cross cutting issues such as empowerment of women, gender equality, involvement of youth and Sustainable Development Goals.  

In conversation with Ms. Nazik Beishanly, President of the CUK     .

In June, Ms. Nazik Beishanly, President of the CUK who is spearheading the organization of the Forum in Bishkek, visited the ICA Asia and Pacific and exchanged notes on the movement in Kyrgyz Republic with the ICA-AP staff and familiarized herself with the work of the office.   A delegation from the AP unit of the ICA-EU Partnership visited Ambassador Samargiul Adamkulova at the Embassy of Kyrgyz Republic to India in New Delhi, to apprise her on the objectives of the Forum and to gain her support to collaborate on the ICA-AP intervention, to develop and strengthen the co-operative movement in central Asia. Watch out for more on the Forum in the next edition of the newsletter.

Meeting with H.E. Ambassador Samargiul Adamkulova