Cooperatives cannot be charitable anymore
Cooperatives are no longer charitable organisations as they have to have considerable revenue to meet their own expenses for survival.
They also have to compete with other institutions in liberalised market economies, said the Minister of Industry and Commerce and the Department of Cooperative Development Rishad Bathiudeen who launched the International Cooperative Conference held at the Galadari Hotel in Colombo two weeks ago.
The Minister also said that cooperatives should have strategic plans to achieve sustainable goals as set out by the United Nations. The conference was organised by the International Cooperation Union and the European Union of Sri Lanka with a large number of delegates from the Asian Pacific region in attendance.
The Minister said that he was confident that the representatives of the International Cooperative Council will be able to build a strong network among the co-operative movement in the region and further action will be taken on the deliberations made by members of the International Cooperative Union. “The Cooperative movement has its own culture based on values and principles. There are 14, 500 various cooperatives in Sri Lanka that are active today with a huge asset base. It played an important role during the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka.”
Chairman of the National Cooperative Council of Sri Lanka Lalith Peiris in welcoming 100 delegates from 27 countries said that they have identified many obstacles that impede the progress of the cooperative movement and have to find solutions to overcome them.
The issues have been identified by the delegates and discussions needed to find plausible solutions. He said the participation of youths and women were important to achieve sustainable development goals. He thanked Minister Bathiudeen for his support extended to the cooperative movement.