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MINUTES of General Meetings of International Co-operative
Agricultural Organisation (ICAO)Seoul, 15 October 2001
A. Welcome
The meeting was opened by the President
of ICAO, Won Churll-Hee, who welcomed the members and guests.
Forty-five delegates and observers from seventeen countries
participated in the meeting.
B. Secretary General Report
Lee Shil-Kwan, Secretary
General, reported on the ICAO activities since the last meeting
in Rio de Janeiro under following categories: - Membership:
currently 50 members from 35 countries, 11 members from Africa,
7 from the Americas, 15 from Asia, and 17 from Europe. - Finance:
The Secretary reported that the cash balance as of 30 September
was CHF74,562. - NACF financial contribution to ICAO: The Secretary
thanked NACF, Korea for the financial contribution of USD 30,000
to ICAO for two consecutive years.
C. Major Activities since Rio:
The 3rd ICAO Workshop
was held in Hungary. ICAO made the initiative to organize cooperation
among an ICA regional office, member cooperatives, a specialized
body and an international organization outside ICA. ICAO
and the ICA Regional Office for Europe organised the International
Workshop in collaboration with the General Committee of the
Agricultural Co-operatives in the EU (COGECA) and the National
Federation of Agricultural Co-operators and Producers (MOSZ),
Hungary. More than thirty cooperative leaders from Bulgaria,
Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Korea, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and
Yugoslavia participated the workshop. MOSZ hosted the event
from June 17th to June 20th, 2001.
D. New Memberships
The membership applications
from the Federation of Agriculture Cooperative Societies (FACS)
of Gambia, the Forestry Cooperatives Central Union (OR-KOOP)
from Turkey and the Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives
(FFFCI), the Philippines were approved unanimously by the participants.
E. Introduction of Co-operatives in Korea
NACF presented
general aspects of Korean agricultural co-operatives using a
video clip.
F. Country Report
Sven Holmstrom (LRF, Sweden),
Lopes de Freitas (OCB, Brazil), Hiroshi Usui (JA-Zenchu), T.D.Janardhan
Rao(NCARDBF, India), and Michael Deegan(ACDI, USA) presented
or introduced their co-operatives' activities.
G. Plans for 2002
The Secretary General reported
the plans of ICAO next year:
The next General Meeting will
be held Mauritius in September 2002 along with a Seminar on
"Agricultural Trade Negotiations and Cooperatives .
The 4th ICAO/Member Workshop on "the Development Strategy
of Agricultural Cooperatives" will be organised in
Manila, the Philippines under the support of the National Koop
Mart Federation of the Republic of the Philippines.
H. Vice President of the European Region
Sven Holmstrom from LRF, Sweden was elected as vice president
for the European region, after the resignation of Holger Hasle
Nielsen from FDC, Denmark.
I. Adoption of the ICAO Seoul Statement on the WTO
Agricultural Negotiation
After Lee Shil-kwan introduced
the background of the draft statement, H.H.Nielsen from Denmark
and Tupaz from the Philippines seconded the motion. The ICAO
Seoul Statement on the WTO Agricultural Negotiations was
adopted unanimously. The secretariat will submit the statement
to the WTO prior to the Doha Ministerial Meeting.
J. Closing
As there were no other issues, the president
closed the meeting with thanks to all participants.
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