48th ICA-AP Committee on Consumer Co-op held in Bali

                       Participants and Member of the Consumer Committee.

The ICA-AP Consumer Committee held the 48th ICA Committee on Consumer Cooperation for Asia and the Pacific in Bali on 17th of September 2014, in conjunction to the 11th ICA-AP Regional Assembly and other related events hosted by DEKOPIN(Indonesia). 9 Committee members and 19 observers from 8 different countries attended the consumer committee meeting. 

The committee started with an opening address by Mr. AMANO Haruyoshi, chairperson of the committee.  Ms. NISHIMOTO Yuki, secretary of the committee, reported the Activity Report since last meeting in Singapore 2013; Activity Plan for next year 2014-2015. Committee members also made presentations of their recent activities and business results, which were followed by active discussions. In addition, the election of the Office Bearers of the Committee took place. Mr.  AMANO of JCCU, Japan,  was re-elected as Chairperson of the Committee for another term of four years.  Mr. Poh Leong Sim of NTUC FairPrice, Singapore and Mr. D.S.K. Pathirana of COOPFED, Sri Lanka were elected as Vice-Chairpersons unanimously. 

In conjunction to the meeting, the seminar on Environmental Protection was held, inviting  2 resource persons.  Ms Desi Kusumadewi, Director, Indonesian office of Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil(RSPO), made the presentation on “Overview of RSPO”,  explaining current situation of consumption and production of palm oil in the world, environmental and social issues related to palm oil, and certification system of RSPO. Also, Mr. JUNG Won-Gak, Chairperson of iCOOP Co-operative Development Centre, gave a lecture about “Business and Activity of iCOOP KOREA for Environmental Protection”. The presentation included the back ground of iCOOP KOREA do eco-friendly agricultural food business, practices of icoop KOREA- such as protecting Korean native wheat, rice paddy wetland conservation activities, and participation of consumers’ environmental movement.

The committee besides the seminar got favorable review from the participants. Thanks to DEKOPIN and 2 resource persons for Seminar for providing the opportunity. The next committee meeting will be held in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, 2015.