Nghe An's collective economic picture has many bright spots.

Representatives of Nghe An Cooperative Union participated in a trade promotion fair introducing goods organized by the Department of Industry and Trade of 6 North Central provinces. Photo: Document

On the afternoon of July 5, a working delegation of the Ministry of Planning and Investment led by Ms. Chu Thi Vinh - Deputy Director of the Department of Cooperative Development had a working session with Nghe An province on the implementation of the 2012 Law on Cooperatives; the development of cooperative economic organizations in the area and to collect opinions on the draft Law on Cooperatives (amended).

Overview of the working session of the delegation with Nghe An province. Photo: Pham Bang

More than 52% of cooperatives operate effectively

Nghe An currently has 840 Cooperatives, 2 Cooperative Unions, and 3,090 Cooperative Groups. Up to now, the province has basically completed the dissolution of weak cooperatives for a long time and all cooperatives in the province have been organized and operated in accordance with the 2012 Law on Cooperatives.

The total operating capital of cooperatives reached nearly 5,400 billion VND; 435 cooperatives operated effectively, accounting for more than 52%. The average annual revenue of a cooperative was 2.1 billion VND, the average annual profit was 160 million VND/cooperative; the average income of a regular worker in a cooperative was 4.56 million VND.

In addition, the whole province has 2,977 cooperatives operating effectively; the average revenue of a cooperative is 588 million VND/year, the average profit of a cooperative is 98 million VND/year; the income of a worker in a cooperative is about 2.8 - 3.5 million VND/month. Regarding the Cooperative Union, the average annual revenue is 2.9 billion VND/year, the average profit is 200 million VND/year.

Leaders of the Provincial People's Committee, the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, departments and branches attended the working session. Photo: Pham Bang

Nghe An Provincial People's Committee assessed that cooperatives in the province have initially had positive changes, becoming more substantial, developing in both quantity and scale; operational efficiency has been gradually improved.

The activities of cooperatives are gradually becoming more true to their nature, focusing more and more on supporting the household and member economy through providing services and jobs; A number of cooperative models have emerged with comprehensive business activities and production linked to the value chain, bringing high efficiency.

Contributing to the development of cooperatives, Nghe An has implemented many preferential and supportive policies such as: training and fostering human resources; promoting trade, expanding markets; accessing capital and development support funds; investing in infrastructure development and supporting the establishment of new cooperatives and cooperative unions.

Comrade Phan Van Hoan - Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Planning and Investment briefly reported on the development of cooperative economic organizations in the province. Photo: Pham Bang

Although achieving certain achievements, the collective economic movement and cooperatives in the province have not developed commensurate with the potential and requirements. The number of cooperatives operating effectively is not large; collective economic organizations and cooperatives have not brought many benefits to members.

Cooperative economic organizations are still weak in terms of both facilities and management and operation capacity; small in scale, lacking cohesion and connection with each other and with businesses to find markets and consume products...

To continue developing and improving the efficiency of the collective economy, Nghe An province recommends early implementation of pilot models and replication of a number of new cooperative models; Research and innovate the issuance of policies to support the collective economy and cooperatives in the direction of balancing sufficient resources; Early upgrading and completing the National Information System on cooperative registration.

Members of the Working Group presented the draft Law on Cooperatives (amended). Photo: Pham Bang

At the meeting, the working group basically agreed with the report; acknowledged the outstanding results in the implementation of the 2012 Law on Cooperatives; the development of cooperative economic organizations in Nghe An province. At the same time, they received and synthesized comments on the draft Law on Cooperatives (amended).

Nghe An's challenge is not small.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Hoang Nghia Hieu - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee said that the development of collective economy is identified by Nghe An province as an important, regular and continuous political task. This area has achieved many positive results in recent times, but there are still many limitations. However, the province assesses this as an area that contributes a lot to social security work because Nghe An has a large area, a large population, and most of the people's lives still depend on agricultural production.

Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee spoke at the meeting. Photo: Pham Bang

Reviewing some outstanding results, shortcomings and limitations in the collective economic sector, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee said that the institutions and resources allocated by the Central Government for this sector are still limited. However, the province will fully absorb the opinions of the working group to continue directing, leading and operating the collective economic sector to develop further.

Concluding the working session, comrade Chu Thi Vinh - Deputy Director of the Department of Cooperative Development (Ministry of Planning and Investment) assessed that although the collective economic picture of Nghe An province has not met expectations and is not commensurate with its potential and advantages, there have been many bright and encouraging points.

Comrade Chu Thi Vinh - Deputy Director of the Department of Cooperative Development (Ministry of Planning and Investment) concluded the working session. Photo: Pham Bang

This is reflected in the number and scale of cooperatives increasing every year; operational efficiency has been improved; business lines have been diversified; and cooperative support has been very good. Cooperatives have applied information technology well, improved management and operation capacity, and linked to the value chain to bring high efficiency; the province's support policies have initially achieved good results.

Emphasizing that Nghe An's challenges in developing the collective economy are not small, in the coming time, the Deputy Director of the Department of Cooperative Development suggested that the province continue to promote propaganda work, raise awareness of cooperatives, officials and people in many different forms; strengthen inspection and supervision work, promptly detect and remove arising problems.

Representatives of Cooperatives in the province attended the meeting. Photo: Pham Bang

In addition, the province also strives to effectively implement the Project on selecting, perfecting and replicating effective new cooperative models in localities across the country in the period of 2021-2025 according to Decision 167 of the Prime Minister; Continue to mobilize, integrate and effectively use resources to support the collective economic sector in the area.

At the meeting, Deputy Director of the Department of Cooperative Development Chu Thi Vinh also answered some of the province's recommendations; at the same time, she hoped that Nghe An province, during the implementation process, would continue to provide suggestions for the Ministry of Planning and Investment to synthesize, report, and submit to the Prime Minister to decide on specific mechanisms for the collective economic sector./.