On a key day for the promotion and strengthening of the cooperative model in the region, the Regional Committee of Allied Parties was established for the coordination, promotion and celebration of the 2025 UN International Year of Cooperatives in the Americas Region.
This is a strategic space to highlight the impact of cooperatives on sustainable development, disseminate activities and promote policy recommendations for advocacy within the framework of the International Year of Cooperatives. It is made up of representatives of cooperatives, international organizations and United Nations agencies.
The president of Cooperatives of the Americas, José Alves de Souza Neto, highlighted that “this is a historic moment for the cooperative movement” and considered that “by strengthening ties with allies it is possible to spread cooperativism and highlight its value and historic capacity to transform the lives of people and societies.”
Ambassador Paula Narváez Ojeda, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations, and Mario Lubetkin, Assistant Director-General of FAO for Latin America and the Caribbean, will serve as co-chairs of the Committee, which has already committed to holding six meetings starting in January, prior to the official launch of the International Year of Cooperatives in the region.
Memorandum of Understanding with FAO
During the same event, which took place on November 12 in Santiago, Chile, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and FAO to strengthen agri-food cooperativism in the Americas within the framework of the Coops4dev project.
This agreement recognises the key role of cooperatives in promoting sustainable development and establishes spaces for collaboration to execute strategic projects, as well as the promotion of legislative advocacy processes and research and dissemination on the impacts of the cooperative model on sustainable development.
The relationship between Cooperatives of the Americas and FAO is one of the longest-standing and most consolidated, and this organization is one of the main multilateral allies to amplify the voice of cooperativism at a global level.
In recent years, both organizations have promoted learning processes, training, research and case studies, strengthening cooperativism in the region and benefiting the agro-industrial sector.
The agreement was signed by Lubetkin and the regional director of Cooperatives of the Americas, Danilo Salerno, accompanied by President Alves, and is part of the Coops4dev project implemented by the International Cooperative Alliance and co-financed by the European Union.
