Press conference to introduce International Year of Cooperatives 2012 and Vietnam Cooperative Day (April 11)

(Baonghean.vn) - This morning, April 7, in Vinh City, Nghe An Province Cooperative Union coordinated with the Department of Information and Communications to hold a press conference to introduce the International Year of Cooperatives 2012 and Vietnam Cooperative Day (April 11).

Attending the press conference were comrades: Nguyen Minh Tu - Director of Cooperatives Department - Ministry of Planning & Investment, Le Xuan Dai - Member of the Provincial Party Committee - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, representatives of provincial departments and branches, and central and local press agencies.



Overview of the press conference.

President Ho Chi Minh was the first person to bring the cooperative ideology to Vietnam with a simple but profound truth: “If our farmers are rich, our country will be rich, if our agriculture is prosperous, our country will be prosperous. If farmers want to be rich, if agriculture wants to be prosperous, there must be cooperatives”. On April 11, 1946, right after the general uprising to seize power, Uncle Ho sent a letter to Vietnamese landlords and farmers calling for: “Quickly pool capital and contribute efforts to establish agricultural cooperatives everywhere; from villages to provinces and cities, everywhere there must be cooperatives. Fellow landlords and farmers, please enthusiastically work together to build the country”.

Implementing the ideology, ethics and viewpoints of President Ho Chi Minh on cooperative economy, cooperatives, the Party and State have had many policies and resolutions on developing a multi-sector economy but still determined: the state economy together with the collective economy (in which cooperatives are the core) are increasingly becoming the solid foundation of the national economy...

At the press conference, journalists focused on discussing current issues of the cooperative sector, the role and influence of cooperatives in developing the agricultural and rural economy, and stabilizing the lives of people in rural areas. In particular, the role of service cooperatives in turning farmers' agricultural products into high-value commodities... Representatives of some press agencies also admitted that for a long time, propaganda work on the cooperative sector has not been much. And there were things that seemed old about cooperatives but were actually very new that were revealed at this press conference so that all levels, sectors, journalists and cooperatives themselves could understand more deeply about cooperatives.

Speaking at the press conference, Mr. Le Xuan Dai - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee acknowledged the positive contributions of the cooperative sector in terms of economic value, budget revenue, job creation, and development of rural industries, contributing to increasing income for cooperative members and workers. Up to now, Nghe An has many types of organizations following the cooperative economic model such as: 840 cooperative unions, cooperatives, 2,635 cooperative groups, 111 provincial-level craft villages, thousands of farms, hundreds of craft villages and many production teams in the Youth Union General Teams in mountainous areas.

In 2011, the collective economy made important contributions, with economic value reaching 975 billion VND, budget revenue of 720 billion VND, and regular employment for nearly 30,000 workers. However, the cooperative sector in general, cooperative types and craft villages in particular, still have many shortcomings and weaknesses, small-scale production, unstable consumption and export of goods, and low turnover. Limited production organization capacity, weak integration and competitiveness.

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also requested that in the coming years, sectors, districts, cities, towns and cooperatives in the whole province need to have more active solutions in production, business and service activities and strengthen the organization. All levels, sectors and cities, districts and towns must pay attention to the role of cooperatives in building new rural goals, creating conditions to remove difficulties and obstacles for the cooperative economic sector, and at the same time helping cooperatives access science and technology, borrow capital for production, business and services... The Vice Chairman also noted that press agencies need to actively and regularly promote the activities of the cooperative sector, encourage, honor and replicate new models, contributing to promoting the economic development of the province.

Quynh Lan