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| Kathmandu Friday April 05, 2002 Chaitra 23, 2058. |
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Legal environment for
cooperatives improves
Post Report
KATHMANDU, April 4:At the second day of
deliberations at the 6th Cooperative Ministers Conference in Kathmandu, where 17 Asian
countries are represented by ministers in charge of cooperatives and high-ranking
government and cooperative officials, an overall assessment was made.
The meet stressed that there has been
significant progress in the Asia-Pacific region towards creating a more favourable
environment for cooperatives to operate as independent and autonomous organisations,
states a press release issed today.
Cooperatives have become closer to their real
identity as member-owned and controlled organisations, a marked shift from the time when
cooperatives were used mostly as instruments of government policies and programmes.
In their country statements, various countries
reported on-going legal and policy reforms directed at freeing cooperatives from state
control and interference. In some countries, new cooperative laws have been enacted. In
others, coop laws and regulations inherited from colonial past are being revised or
amended.
These developments were also documented by a
team of experts, who studied the current state of cooperative legislation and
implementation in several countries in the region. In the presentation of their study to
the conference, the experts noted the efforts being done by governments and the
cooperative movements in implementing the recommendations drawn up at the 5th Cooperative
Ministers’ Conference in Beijing in Octber 1999. The Beijing conference come up with
9 stets of recommendations covering, among others autonomy and independence of
cooperative, the recognition of their basic character as socio-economic enterprises, fair
playing field, and self-regulation, states the release.
The study in particular cited the case of Nepal,
whose current coop legislation already ensures full autonomy and independence to
cooperatives, and in general creates an enabling environment for cooperatives to operate
as member-owned and controlled organizations, the release concludes.
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