BRICS cooperatives to meet in S Africa on Oct 26-27

Leaders of cooperative organisations from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will gather in Cape Town later this month for the third BRICS Cooperatives Meeting.
The meeting with the theme Partnerships for Development, Integration and Industrialisation Through Cooperatives will take place from October 26-27 and will be hosted jointly by hosted by the South African National Apex Cooperative (SANACO) and the Department of Trade and Industry.
SANACO President Lawrence Bale said the aim of the gathering is to facilitate bilateral and multilateral cooperation amongst co-operative enterprises in BRICS countries.
"The meeting will provide an opportunity for cooperatives to exchange ideas, experiences and information on enhancing cooperatives development, possible collaboration and joint ventures amongst cooperatives in the Brics countries and Southern Africa," Bale said.

South Africa, which places great emphasis on cooperatives for development, has just completed a review to strengthen legislation affecting co-operatives.
"Collaboration on capacity building, skills development, technology transfer and funding models for cooperatives are also some of the issues that cooperative leaders will brainstorm at the meeting," added Bale.

He said cooperatives leaders at the meeting will also discuss the implementation structure for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed during the second BRICS Cooperatives Leaders Meeting in Beijing, China in 2011.
Expressing support for the meeting, South African Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies said cooperative development was a preferred instrument to reduce poverty, unemployment, high levels of inequality and to accelerate economic empowerment.

"The meeting will be the first for South Africa and we are not sparing any effort to ensure that the historic occasion does not only become a success but also produce positive spin-offs for our cooperatives.
"We want to make certain that South Africa's membership of the BRICS block also benefits our cooperatives," said Davies.
The minister added that the meeting will provide cooperative leaders with a platform to brainstorm ways and means in which cooperatives can take advantage of trade and investments opportunities presented by Brics membership and extend their markets to other countries.