The South African government recognises the importance of cooperatives in assisting the country to achieve economic development, reduce poverty and to improve rural livelihoods. This was said by the Deputy Director-General of broadening participation at the Department of Trade and Industry Mr Sipho Zikode.
He was speaking during the opening ceremony of the third BRICS cooperatives meeting at the Cape Town International Convention Centre today. The theme of the meeting is Partnerships for Development, Integration and Industrialisation through Cooperatives.
“We clearly recognise that cooperatives and small medium enterprises are major contributors to job creation and the generation of wealth. They also form the cornerstone for rural economic development, empowerment and equity, not only in South Africa, but in all BRICS countries. Therefore, our government has recognised the importance of cooperatives in assisting the country to achieve economic development, reduce poverty and improve rural livelihoods,” said Zikode.
He added that the main challenge for cooperatives in the BRICS member countries is to explore means and ways of practically improving investment, trade and business partnerships among cooperatives within the BRICS family.
“Our performance in the areas of trade is steadily improving. Nonetheless, we are still operating at a lower base. We are looking forward to the days when our cooperatives will enter into joint business contracts taking full advantage of existing business opportunities in each of the five countries,” said Zikoke.
He further explained that the third BRICS cooperatives meeting would be discussing the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by cooperatives leaders in Beijing in 2011. The MoU aimed to facilitate bilateral and multilateral cooperation among cooperatives in the BRICS countries.
The President of the South African National Apex Cooperative (SANACO), Mr Lawrence Bale said SANACO was looking forward to fast-tracking the facilitation of business collaboration between and amongst cooperatives in the BRICS countries.
“We believe we are on the right track to allow continuous education and training, sharing information, trading amongst ourselves and exchanging best practices of the cooperatives model of enterprises around the world,” added Bale.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe, departmental spokesperson
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell : 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Thulane Mabuza, SANACO Secretary General
Tel: 012 323 5069 / 5073
Cell: 082 677 2146
E-mail: mabuza.thulane@gmail.com
