Report of the Critical Study on Cooperative Legislation and Competitive Strength

Abstract

The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) has conducted a series of AsiaPacific Cooperative Ministers Conferences starting from the one in Sydney, Australia, in 1990, with the objective of developing a shared vision towards making cooperatives more autonomous and independent. In doing so, cooperatives need to stage a constructive dialogue with the relevant state authorities to ensure that appropriate policies and legislation are created or reformulated. Such an important colloquy must be staged not only within a conducive environment, but also conceived within the broader concept of cooperative principles and sustainable development. It is for that reason that two follow up Conferences were subsequently held in Jakarta (1992) and Colombo (1994), preceded by national seminars and workshops, addressing important issues such as the environment, cooperative competitiveness, and structural reforms.In preparation for the Fourth Ministerial Conference scheduled to take place in March 1997, ICA deemed it important to conduct an independent and critical study that will offer objective insights about the merits - or the lack thereof - of the past three Ministerial Conferences. The study was conducted to asses the impact generated by past conclusions and recommendations of the ICA sponsored Ministerial conferences. Two particular sectors were given more careful analysis, namely the financial and Agri-business Cooperative sectors, in terms of their organizational effectiveness and deficiencies, as well as their development potential and inherent risks. The study covered five countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.