CCW - Cooperatives of the Americas Agreement

By the invitation of Graciela Fernández Quintas – President of Cooperatives of the Americas, Prof. Petar Stefanov - President of Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide took part in a joint cooperative forum “Accelerate Interregional Cooperative Solutions For Market Access Towards The International Year of Cooperatives 2025”, held on March 13 in Colonia, Uruguay with the participation of members of the Regional Board of Cooperatives of the Americas and leaders of co-operative organizations from Argentina and Uruguay.

As a result of active discussions and the presentation of the online platform Coop2Coop Marketplace, a unanimous agreement was reached to establish a Task Force to attract representatives of consumer co-operatives from the Americas in order to strengthen the interaction not only between them but also with sectoral organizations in the region.

The priorities in the activities of the Task Force are to:

• promote the visibility of consumer cooperatives in Cooperatives of the Americas Region through tangible business cooperation between them, as well as with the other regions of the ICA, in particular Euro Coop and the ICA Asia-Pacific Committee on Consumer Cooperation;
• support the implementation of the pilot project of the online platform Coop2Coop Marketplace by including their products and services for their commercial realization;
• promote the exchange of experience and good practices, communications and information on initiatives and events enhancing the visibility of the co-operative business model;
• intensify co-operation between co-operative sectors in view of their interaction and common projects and initiatives;
• develop a timetable for the specific implementation of this agreement, with the assistance of the Regional Director of Cooperatives of the Americas and the Director of the CCW, and with the further aim of establishing a regional structure of consumer co-operatives in the Cooperatives of the Americas.

The joint activities in Uruguay were made possible thanks to the support of the President of Cooperatives of the Americas, Graciela Fernández, and the organisational and logistical effort of the Uruguayan Confederation of Co-operative Enterprises (CUDECOOP) and Uruguayan Federation of Consumer Co-operatives (FUCC). President Fernández thanked Prof. Stefanov for his visit to the region and presented him with recognition from the Cooperatives of the Americas Board of Directors.

Also present was Dr. Ariel Guarco - President of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), who highlighted that this agreement between Cooperatives of the Americas and CCW shall reinforce the integration and intercooperation necessary to strengthen the global co-operative exchange.

The visit also included work meetings with the Special Parliamentary Committee on Co-operative Affairs of the Uruguayan Parliament, the National Institute of Co-operatives (INACOOP), the Federation of Agricultural Co-operatives (CAF), and the three oldest consumer co-operatives: Coop Magisterial (COMAG) Cooperativa Bancaria, and Coop ACE.