A high level Asia Pacific Cooperative executive committee session opened in Colombo on 12 December-with significant emphasis on engagement of youth for cooperatives.
“Addressing the launch of Annual Executive Committee Meeting of Network for the Development of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia and the Pacific (NEDAC) in Colombo, State Minister of international Cooperation Susil Premajayntha said President Gotabaya Rajapakse is focused on fulfilling many responsibilities for future generations, hone their skills and empower them.
Given a considerable number of the cooperative members are youth, this is a very important development for our cooperative sector” he said.
Network for the Development of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia and the Pacific (NEDAC) is headquartered in Bangkok and is the unique regional forum linking 21 apex cooperative organizations from 12 countries.
“The membership in Sri Lanka cooperative system has around 8 million Sri Lankans” said Vice-Chairman NEDAC M.S.M. Riyas.
There is a strong youth and women membership within this 8 million. COOPYES was founded to uplift the youth in the process.
COOPYES could play a key role in enlisting youth to Cooperatives in future, he said adding that even though NEDAC began for agricultural cooperatives, today it expanded to include cooperatives in many other sectors too
” Chairman of NEDAC Sundeep Kumar Nayak said that the latest Colombo sessions are aimed at sharing of cooperative experiences. “Also to review the progress, and to prepare workplans for 2020.”
(LI)