The focus of the National Cooperative Congress 2024 is to enhance the competitiveness of cooperative businesses
KUALA LUMPUR: Enhancing the competitiveness of cooperative businesses is among the four main focuses emphasized at the National Cooperative Congress 2024, which began today and will span two days.
Reported by Bernama, the other three main focuses include strengthening identity and identity, improving acts, regulations, and governance, as well as enhancing education and human capital.
Datuk Seri Dr. Abdul Fattah Abdullah, President of the National Cooperative Movement of Malaysia (ANGKASA), said resolutions achieved from the congress, held after 53 years, will be presented to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tomorrow.
“We aim for the recognition of the cooperative movement as a business entity so that cooperatives can enjoy incentives similar to those given by the government to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“Currently, we see (assistance) as somewhat unbalanced, I’m not saying it’s unfair but based on the number of cooperative members in Malaysia, totaling 7.2 million individuals, which is more than 20 percent of the population, are cooperative members,” he told reporters after officiating the National Cooperative Congress 2024 here today.
Abdul Fattah said in line with the responsibility given to the cooperative movement to strengthen its role and advance cooperative businesses, facilities and direct assistance from the government are needed.
“This is also among our proposals, such as the movement to increase funds, allocate budgets for development, and explore other incentive taxes that can be given to cooperatives to bring them on par with SMEs,” he said.
Earlier, in his speech, Abdul Fattah said based on data from the Malaysian Cooperative Commission (SKM) until December 2023, cooperative earnings recorded RM64.6 billion, surpassing the government’s target of RM60 billion by 2025.
“There are 15,809 cooperatives with a membership of 7.2 million, with assets valued at RM165.9 billion and shares or fees of RM17.4 billion. The cooperative movement’s earnings exceed the government’s set targets through the Malaysian Cooperative Policy (DaKoM), proving that the cooperative movement is capable of generating economic viability,” he said.
He said the cooperative movement also seeks access to unlimited and bureaucratic-free funding.
“Such minor issues cause cooperatives to hesitate in expanding their businesses more aggressively,” he said.
In line with the MADANI Economic goals, Abdul Fattah said ANGKASA is committed to making the national cooperative movement a leader in Asia’s economy.
The last Cooperative Congress was held in 1971, and the closing ceremony of the National Cooperative Congress 2024 is expected to be officiated by the Prime Minister tomorrow.