The Vietnam Cooperative Alliance (VCA) hosted the second ICA-AP Regional Board Meeting of 2024 in Hanoi, Vietnam on 29 July 2024. Board members from India, China, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Philippines, and Vietnam attended in person and those from Australia, Iran, and Sri Lanka joined online.

Mrs. Cao Xuan Thu Van, President of VCA welcomed all delegates to Hanoi. She emphasized the significance of this regional board meeting, where board members gathered to make key decisions, including new membership fees and voting calculation proposals, 2025 International Year of Cooperatives and discussing the ICA-AP Strategic Plan for 2025-2030. She highlighted the importance of cooperative development on the international agenda and reiterated VCA’s commitment to actively participate in ICA-AP's activities, promote experience sharing, and enhance cooperation among cooperatives. She also committed to successfully organizing the Asia-Pacific Women CEOs in Cooperative Summit in the next two days.

Dr. Chandrapal Singh Yadav, ICA-AP President and the meeting Chairperson thanked VCA and its president, Mrs. Van, for their warm hospitality arrangement for the board meeting and the Women CEOs Summit. He welcomed the new board members Mr. Junrey E. Labatos from the Philippines and Mr. Ho Dong-Kang from Korea and extended gratitude to the departing members Mr. Sung-hee Lee and Ms. Maria Montallana. The Board ratified the nomination of the two new board members.

Dr. Yadav mentioned the celebrations of the International Day of Cooperatives, highlighting cooperatives' role in sustainable development and community resilience. He said in India, the NCUI and the Ministry of Cooperation led celebrations with over 5,000 cooperators to raise awareness about cooperatives. On 9 July, the International Year of Cooperatives 2025 was launched at the UN Headquarters in New York, with many ICA-AP members and cooperators participating. The launch, emphasized the cooperative model's importance in achieving SDGs.

Dr. Yadav highlighted the outcome of the 11th Asia-Pacific Cooperative Ministers’ Conference in terms of the Jordan Declaration which stressed the importance of partnership between governments and cooperatives and the need for an enabling environment. He noted that he has been actively involved in the discussions towards the preparation of the ICA Global Conference and General Assembly in New Delhi in November. He has been regularly attending meetings to discuss policy & governance matters including the series of meetings on reviewing ICA membership fees and voting rights.

Dr. Yadav shared his pleasure seeing the enthusiasm and support from Board members for the Women CEOs Summit and hoped that the event would demonstrate the collective commitment of the board to gender equality and inclusion.

The Board approved the agenda and confirmed the minutes of the previous board meeting held in April 2024 in Jordan. The Chairperson of the ICA-AP Committee on Women and Committee on Youth Cooperation presented a brief update on their activities undertaken and plans for the future. The board appreciated the work done by the youth and women committees. The Women’s Committee invited the Board members to the Women CEOs in Cooperatives Summit over the next two days.

Mr. Balasubramanian Iyer, ICA-AP Regional Director, reported on ICA-AP activities undertaken after the last board meeting, membership and subscription status and the financial report from January to June 2024. He presented ICA’s new proposal to calculate membership fee and voting rights of the members. The Board members had an enriching and fruitful discussion on these important agendas. Dr. Yadav requested the members to share their written inputs and concerns on the matter which will be collectively shared for ICA Global Board’s consideration.

Mr. Iyer provided an update on the membership needs assessment conducted by the office under the ICA-EU FPA Phase 2 that will help design various project activities. The Board decided to convene online before the next regional board meeting to discuss the ICA-AP strategic plan 2025-2030.

The next regional board meeting will be held on 28 November 2024 in New Delhi, India on the sidelines of the ICA Global Cooperative Conference and General Assembly.