Reporting at a conference attended by deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue in Hanoi, the alliance said that the country had 19,487 active cooperatives with 6.4 million members by the end of 2017. In addition, there were 97,589 cooperative groups with about 1.57 million members.
The alliance has organized five cooperation signing ceremonies with economic groups, institutes and international organizations to develop cooperatives according to new models in 2018-2020.
Speaking at the conference, deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue appreciated results in developing cooperatives and cooperative economy.
The establishment of over 2,000 new style cooperatives last year was a suprising archievement, showing their important role as well as attraction, he said.
He appreciated the ratio of 38 percent well performing cooperatives last year. It was only 10 percent in 2012.
The development of new style cooperatives has not only contributed in the economy’s growth but also created jobs for residents, increased income, ensured welfare and boosted new rural development.
The development potential of cooperative economy is very huge but the contribution level to economic growth has been limited with about 4-4.5 percent.
Talking about solutions to develop collective and cooperative economy in 2018 and following years, Mr. Hue required the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance to clearly show its role of a organization representative for cooperative members and protecting their benefits.
The alliance should efficiently show its leading role in collective economy and work with relevant sides to develop new cooperative models connecting production with market demand.
In 2018, he urged it to develop members, build and efficiently use cooperative development fund, act as guarantee for cooperatives to get bank loans, provide human resource training for cooperatives and pilot cooperative model development in chains.
He emphasized that cooperative development must have the support by businesses and connectivity between cooperatives and enterprises. Therefore, it is needed to attract businesses to invest in agriculture and rural field, organize trade promotion activities for cooperatives and seek consumption sources for their products.
