The new ICA-AP Regional Board has its first formal meeting on 21 April in New Delhi, India in a hybrid mode. The Regional Board has a mix of new and continuing members. Dr. Chandrapal Singh Yadav, Chairperson of the Regional Board extended a warm welcome to the new members - Mr. Cai Zhenhong from China, Ms. Natalie Browning from Australia, Dr. Mohammad Ali Zeyghami from Iran, Mr. Min Raj Kadel from Nepal, and Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Bao from Vietnam and greeted the continuing members who joined from Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Dr. Yadav said, as the new President of ICA-AP, he looks forward to working together with the new Board to strengthen the cooperative movement in the region.
The key agenda items discussed were – the Regional Board Induction Manual, an update on subscription payments by members who had requested exceptions during Regional Board elections, merger and/or renaming agriculture and forestry committees, consolidating committee balances, the financial performance of the Regional Office in 2021, and venue for the Cooperative Ministers’ Conference and the ICA-AP Regional Assembly in 2023.
Mr. Alireza Banaeifar, Chairperson of the ICA-AP Committee on Youth Cooperation, presented the new brochure of the committee to the Board and some of the upcoming activities - Asia-Pacific Replication Project and Go Green Campaign 4.0. Ms. Chitose Arai, Acting Chairperson of the ICA-AP Committee on Women reported on the committee activities like the virtual side event at the UN NGO Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 66 Forum, committee newsletter, and participation in ICA Gender Committee webinar.
The Regional Board discussed and approved the Regional Board induction manual prepared by the Regional Office to provide key material to help the new Board in their role to serve the Asia-Pacific region. Mr. Balasubramanian Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP presented the membership report and the status of dues of members who had requested exceptions during Regional Board elections. All members except those in Iran and Sri Lanka have paid their dues; the Board was supportive of these two countries facing serious challenges in making payments. The Cooperative Development and Finance Association from Jordan has joined ICA.
The Board deliberated and decided to merge the agriculture and forestry committees and rename the new committee Agriculture and Environment. The Board also approved the consolidation of the committee balances. Mr. Iyer presented the key activities carried out by the office since the last Board meeting – the ICA-MAFF (Japan) training course, a side event at the UN NGO CSW 66 Forum, collaboration with LINAC-NCDC in India to develop a knowledge exchange platform for cooperatives, the launch of an EU funded project - SuPER WE Coffee. ICA-AP has collaborated with CARE France, CARE International in Lao PDR, and Haliéus to implement the project Sustainable Production and Ethic Responsible & Women Empowered Coffee value chains in Lao PDR.
Dr. Yadav thanked the members for their participation in the meeting.
