The International Co-operative Alliance or ICA, an apex organization for co-operatives worldwide, representing 284 co-operative organizations across 95 countries, headquartered at Brussels, Belgium, expressed its concerns over the latest proposal on agricultural reform made by an agricultural working group of Japanese Government’s advisory panel named as the Council for Promotion of Regulatory Reform.
ICA’s concerns were raised in its letter sent on November 19 to Choe Okuno, president of JA ZENCHU (Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives), an apex body of agricultural cooperative organizations in Japan, who concurrently holds the post of chairman of Japan Joint Committee of Cooperatives (JJC).
In the letter addressed to the JA ZENCHU president, ICA’s representative criticized the agricultural working group, saying “The proposal made by the group is likely to unfairly interfere with functions played by private organizations of cooperatives.”
The international organization of cooperatives, expressing supports to a group of Japanese agricultural cooperatives (JAs) and other cooperatives through the November 19 letter, pointed out that roles and functions of agricultural cooperatives (JAs) in Japan could be considerably transformed by the proposal, which may be forcing JAs’ business federation, ZEN-NOH, to break up its organization.
The representative of ICA also added in the letter sent to JA ZENCHU that ICA members of cooperative organizations in the world are now closely watching the movement taking place around their fellow organizations in Japan with great concerns.
Participants in ICA’s Asia and Pacific Regional Assembly held in New Delhi, India, on November 18, adopted a resolution expressing their deep concern on the Japanese Government’s move that may interfere with the autonomy and independence of cooperatives and their strong support for the Japanese cooperative movement.