VCA plans support polices to spur cooperatives’ development

Addressing the third meeting of the fifth VCA Central Committee on July 20 in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, Cu said the alliance will also focus on human resource training and encourage the development of people’s credit funds.

According to the official, the Cooperative Law 2012 has showed a number of shortcomings that need amendments and supplements to create a more favourable legal corridor for cooperatives to operate equally with other economic components and businesses.

Participants at the two-day event discussed the collective economic situation in the country and the performance of the VCA in the first half of 2017 and its tasks for the rest of the year.

Currently, Vietnam has over 20,000 cooperatives and 15,000 cooperative groups operating in various fields including agriculture, trade-service, construction, transportation and credit.

Of the total, more than 10,000 cooperatives have reformed and registered for operation while over 3,750 others were established under the Cooperative Law 2012.

Total assets of the cooperatives exceed VND12 trillion (around US$528.6 million), with average revenue of more than VND4.3 billion per year, VND949 million higher than that in 2013. Average income of labourers in the cooperatives is VND43 million per year, a rise of 17 million compared to that in 2013.

However, many transformed cooperatives under the Cooperative Law 2012 remain small with limited financial and infrastructure capacity and loose connection with value chains.