The global co-operative movement has just kicked off the 2025 International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) in New Delhi.
More than 3,000 delegates are today (25 November) gathered from over 100 countries for the start of the global conference of the International Cooperative Alliance. Those attending the opening include India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, UN representatives, government officials and co-operative leaders attended the launch event.
In his speech to the event, Modi said India – which has issued a commemorative stamp to celebrate the IYC – is witnessing a “full expansion of the co-operative movement”.
“Co-operatives are a lifestyle for India,” he added. “Our freedom movement was inspired by co-operation.
“With dairy co-ops, the independence movement took a new direction and Amul [co-operative] is now one of the world’s top brands.”
Modi also highlighted the co-operative movement’s large scale in India, where one in five people is a member of a co-op; the country is home to 800,000 co-ops with 219 million members.
“In many sectors co-ops are playing a significant role,” he said, pointing to sectors like housing and banking where co-ops are strong.
Around Rs 12tn are deposited in co-op banks, several of which have been fined in recent years by the regulator. The government has introduced a series of reforms, said Modi, including shifting regulatory powers over co-op banks to the Reserve Bank of India to make them “more competitive and transparent”.
Other reforms have been made promote the sector, said Modi, such as providing funding to co-ops looking to digitise in sectors like banking or agriculture, and an initiative enabling co-ops to market their products via the government’s digital marketplace platform.
Modi also talked about his country’s self-help groups which, he said, empower women in rural areas.
“Growth should be seen in a human-centric way,” he said. “The importance of co-ops is not confined to laws, and regulations, we have to move beyond that.”
The “co-operative spirit will be the life of the country,” Modi told delegates. “In this IYC we will empower this co-operative spirit. We will move forward with this co-operative spirit and we will be empowered, we will be prosperous.”
UN secretary-general António Guterres sent a video message to the event. “Co-operatives like the ones you represent demonstrate the importance of standing together to forge solutions to global challenges,” he told delegates. “Hailing from more than 100 countries, you are driving development across communities, large and small, fighting poverty and social exclusion, strengthening food security, helping local entrepreneurs access national and international markets and so much more.
Related: Logo released for the 2025 International Year of Cooperatives
“Your united efforts are essential as our world confronts complex challenges and strives to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. You can be sure that we will continue to call on governments to recognise your critical work through national budgets and development plans, and to arrive at next year’s World Summit for Social Development with solutions that can spur progress for all people. As your theme reminds us, co-operatives build a better world. The United Nations is proud to stand with you in this essential work.”
ILO director general Gilbert Houngbo addressed the launch event via a video message in which he called on governments to strengthen legal, regulatory and policy frameworks to support co-operatives.
“Let us ensure that 2025 marks a new era for co-operatives,” he said.
The opening ceremony also featured Tshering Tobgay, prime minister of Bhutan, and Manoa Kamikamica, deputy prime minister of Fiji.
Kamikamica highlighted the similarities between co-ops in India and Fiji, which established its own Ministry of Co-operatives in 2022 to foster co-ops, which it views as a pathway out of poverty and into prosperity, he said.
“Fiji is here to listen, learn and execute,” he added.
Tobgay praised co-operatives for enabling individuals to lift themselves out of poverty, access markets, and improve their livelihoods, and said his country wanted to learn from India’s co-op movement.
“In today’s world, the co-op movement has become event more important”, he said, adding that co-ops brought collaboration innovative thinking and shared responsibilities. “There is no better country that exemplifies the economic transformative power of collective action.”
ICA president Ariel Guarco echoed this message as he thanked the Indian co-operative movement for hosting the conference.
“We live in a complex time as humanity”, he said, adding that often crises can lead to co-operative solutions. “We have answers but we must not close the doors to any questions.”
Guarco called on co-operators to go beyond their own borders and engage with new generations to raise awareness of their contributions. He said India is an example of a government supporting co-operatives.
The UN resident coordinator in India, Shombi Sharp, also took to the stage, describing India as “a nation synonymous with co-operation”.
India’s co-op sector has been central to rural transformation, like Amul, he said, adding that “co-operatives are vital to the success of SDGs.”
“When people come together the world is a better place,” he said, praising the Indian government for creating a Ministry of Co-operatives.
This is the second time in history that the UN has dedicated an international year to co-operatives. The first International Year of Cooperatives was in 2012, which was celebrated with a World Cooperative Congress in Manchester, UK. The theme for the 2025 UN International Year of Cooperatives is ‘Cooperatives Build a Better World’, the same as for the 2012 celebration.
The ICA aims to use the IYC to increase the visibility of co-operatives and raise public awareness about their contributions to sustainable development. The global apex will also continue to advocate for enabling environment and supportive legal and policy frameworks for strengthening co-operatives’ entrepreneurial ecosystem.
