"Indonesia has enjoyed the trust to host the commemoration of the International Year of Cooperatives scheduled for May 22-25 in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara province," Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Scale Businesses Sjarifuddin Hasan said here on Wednesday.
The UN had appointed Indonesia to host the event thanks to the huge number of cooperatives in the country which reached 188,181 with a total of 30,849,913 members, he said.
"What is more, the theme of the IYC 2012 is in line with our wish to launch cooperatives-mindedness campaigns," he said.
The IYC 2012 is themed "Cooperatives Enterprises build a Better World". It carries three goals; first, promoting public awareness of cooperatives to contribute to socio-economic development to achieve millennium development goals (MDGs); second, promoting and developing cooperatives; and third, encouraging the government to set policies and regulations in support of cooperatives` growth.
"The government wants to ease the procedure of establishing cooperatives by cutting the lengthy bureaucracy," he said.
He said Indonesian cooperatives currently have total assets of Rp64 trillion and, along with small and medium businesses contribute 57.2 percent of the gross domestic product.
He said the event which will include an international seminar on cooperatives, cultural show and field trip to a number of cooperatives, small and medium companies is expected to bring together 500 participants from 20 countries.
The outcome of the event will hopefully support the cooperatives revitalization program launched by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the commemoration of the 64th anniversary of the Indonesian cooperatives on July 12, 2012, he said. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
