Over 600 delegates from 17 countries at International Convention on Cooperativism

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 17 (ACN) Aware that in terms of integration and social economy the challenges are enormous in a world of unipolar crisis, more than 600 experts, academics and professionals of the cooperative sector, from 17 countries, are participating at the 15th International Convention of Cooperativism, Cooperat 2024.

Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca, Cuban deputy prime minister; Ydael Perez Brito, minister of agriculture; Johana Odriozola Guitart, deputy minister of economy and planning; and Ramon Osmani Aguilar Betancourt, president of the agrifood commission of the Cuban Parliament, among others, attended the opening ceremony today at the Havana Convention Center, where the convention will be held until Thursday.

In his welcoming remarks, Carlos Cesar Torres Paez, president of the Organizing Committee, stressed the importance of this event, which includes seven scientific workshops in which experiences and challenges of cooperativism will be analyzed, both in Cuba and in other parts of the world.

He pointed out that in the midst of a tightened US blockade and its unjust inclusion in the list of nations that promote terrorism, Cuba is focusing its efforts on boosting the economic and social model and implementing the Economic and Social Development Plan towards 2030.

Cooperat 2024 can have an impact on the implementation of the Food Sovereignty and Food and Nutritional Security Law, on the linkage between economic actors and on the strengthening of local productive systems and the economic and social development of the country, the academician said.

For his part, Jose Ariza Reyes, director of the Andalusian School of Social Economy, gave the first keynote lecture at the opening session, the theme of which was cooperativism in the social economy.

The event is part of the roadmap towards the 6th World Forum on Local Economic Development, scheduled for April 1 to 4, 2025, in Seville, Spain.

The Articulated Platform for Integral Territorial Development, the Andalusian Municipalities Fund for International Solidarity, the Andalusian School of Social Economy Foundation and the Latin American Cooperativism Network also participated in the organization of the convention.