Governor Lee Jae-myung Meets Bruno Rolland, ICA Secretary-General: "Cooperatives Are Central to the Social Economy"

[Asia Economy (Uijeongbu) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] On the 29th, Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, held a meeting with Bruno Roleants, Secretary-General of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), at the Gyeonggi Northern Office in Uijeongbu, exchanging opinions to ensure the successful hosting of the '33rd World Cooperative Congress' to be held in Korea this December. Gyeonggi Province is participating as the official Korean partner of this event.

At the meeting, Governor Lee said, "The global economy is experiencing significant stagnation due to polarization, and the suffering of the masses is very severe. The key solution is the social economy, and the central axis is, of course, cooperatives." He emphasized, "Now, the economy needs to shift not only to making money but also, for example, to caring about the global environment, contributing to the public good, or increasing employment itself. The share of this social economy sector in the overall economy is expected to continue to grow."

He added, "The World Cooperative Congress is being held in Asia for the second time in nearly 30 years since 1992, this time in the Republic of Korea. I wish for the success of the congress and hope that the spirit of cooperatives will be widely promoted so that Korean cooperatives can share the future together."

In response, Secretary-General Bruno Roleants said, "The reason we wanted to hold the congress in Korea is that Korea has a strong sense of labor value and is approaching the social economy more broadly, which seemed interesting." He added, "Due to COVID-19, we will have to live in different ways going forward, and I believe this will be an important opportunity for cooperatives and the social economy to demonstrate their roles."

The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), founded in 1895, is an international non-profit private organization representing 320 member organizations from 111 countries, 3 million cooperatives, and over 1 billion cooperative members.

Currently, seven organizations in Korea are members, including the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, iCOOP Consumer Cooperative, and Korea International Cooperative Solidarity.

The 33rd World Cooperative Congress will be held from December 1 to 3 at the Grand Walkerhill Seoul, both online and offline. About 1,700 participants, including representatives of global cooperatives, governments, international organizations, NGOs, and researchers, will engage in discussions, academic conferences, and legal forums under the theme "Deepening Cooperative Identity."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.