Transcription of CICOPA President’s message for the International Day of Cooperatives 2022
1 July 2022
This is a transcription of the President’s video message on occasion of the International Day of Cooperatives. Read CICOPA’s message here.
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Dear cooperative friends:
Cooperatives have a long history of success. This year, we celebrate 100th occasion of the International Day of Cooperatives, and 20 years from the recommendation of the International Labour Organisation Number 193 on the Promotion of Cooperatives.
This historical recommendation acknowledges that “cooperatives in their various forms promote the fullest participation in the economic and social development of all people”.
Indeed, over the years our worker and social cooperatives – employing 4 million persons across the world – have consistently built a better world through creating quality jobs, empowering disadvantaged groups of the population, and providing affordable, much needed goods and services.
However, this Day of Cooperatives we look not only into the past but also into the future.
Policymakers across the globe increasingly pay more attention to the benefits of the cooperative model because we have answers to many of the challenges modern societies are facing.
United Nations, OECD, European Union, and individual countries are discussing the advantages of the cooperatives and other social economy organizations and creating new policy and financial instruments to support them. We hope that this important work will continue and spans in the entire globe, to enable the growth and development of cooperatives everywhere.
This Day of Cooperatives, we are full of hope and commitment to building a better world for the future.
I wish you a great International Day of Cooperatives!