SANTIAGO, Chile – Cooperatives are a strategic actor in the international economy and are called on to play an even more leading role in the productive transformation of Latin America and the Caribbean and in the efforts to achieve more inclusive and sustainable development in the region, according to authorities and other representatives present at the inauguration of an event entitled International Year of Cooperatives 2025: Cooperatives build a better future by promoting productivity, inclusion and territorial development, which is taking place this Monday, May 12 and Tuesday, May 13 at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile.
The event – organized by the International Cooperative Alliance, Cooperatives of the Americas – A Region of the International Cooperative Alliance, the CORFO-INAC Committee of Chile and ECLAC, with the collaboration of German Cooperation – seeks to increase public awareness of cooperatives’ contribution to sustainable and inclusive productive development, strengthening exchange and collaboration between cooperatives, the governments of the region, and the United Nations.
The two-day meeting, being held in the framework of the International Year of Cooperatives 2025, featured welcome remarks by José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, ECLAC’s executive secretary; Nicolás Grau Veloso, minister of economy, development and tourism of Chile; and José Alves de Souza, president of cooperatives of the Americas. They were accompanied by Paula Narváez, permanent representative of Chile to the United Nations.
“Because they generate growth and employment, because they foster collaboration in pursuing solutions to problems, and because they have roots in communities, cooperatives are called on to play an even more leading role in the productive transformation of our economies and in collective efforts to escape the traps of low capacity for growth and transformation; of high inequality and low social mobility; and of low institutional capacity,” emphasized José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, ECLAC’s executive secretary.
The Commission’s highest authority affirmed that cooperatives are strategic allies of productive development because they promote collective efforts to identify and solve problems such as access to work, to housing, to credit, to production, to education, to health and to energy. “In that regard, we see major similarities and complementarities between the cooperative model and cluster initiatives and other initiatives of productive articulation,” Salazar-Xirinachs sustained.
“As president Gabriel Boric said (in a video message), Chile reaffirms its commitment to cooperatives in this International Year of Cooperatives. We believe that cooperatives are a strategic actor in the international economy, and in our economy in particular. At times of uncertainty, cooperatives are a democratic organizational structure for addressing that uncertainty in another way,” stated Nicolás Grau Veloso, Chile’s minister of economy, development and tourism.
Meanwhile, José Alves de Souza, president of cooperatives of the Americas, indicated that “the model we propose is simultaneously cultural and productive. A model that, after 130 years of history, continues to be valid, current and necessary for overcoming the inequalities that still characterize us in the region.”
According to recent statistics, he said, more than 104,000 cooperatives exist regionwide.
Other speakers during the opening session included Danilo Salerno, regional director of cooperatives of the Americas – A Region of the International Cooperative Alliance; Siria Jeldes, representative of Chile on the Board of directors of cooperatives of the Americas; Fernanda Cardona, minister of industry, energy and mining of the government of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; Máximo Torero, FAO assistant director general and regional representative (a.i.) for Latin America and the Caribbean; Elizabeth Ugalde Miranda, vice minister of micro, small and medium enterprise development at the ministry of economy of Guatemala (virtual); Amparo Merino, secretary of state for social economy of the government of Spain (virtual); and Ariel Guarco, president of the International Cooperative Alliance. The programme also includes closing remarks by Chile’s vice president, Álvaro Elizalde.
These representatives emphasized, among other things, cooperatives’ contribution to the democratization of the economy and to the attainment of the 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Cooperatives create decent work, with gender equality and care for the environment, and they strengthen local production chains. The cooperative model, they indicated, represents an inclusive and transformative tool in the face of global challenges, promoting resilient communities.
On Tuesday, May 13, three workshops will be held at the headquarters of ECLAC, of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Santiago, Chile.
The In-depth workshop: Policies and tools for the development of territorial productivity: the role of cooperatives and subnational governments, which will take place at ECLAC, will be inaugurated by Javiera Petersen, undersecretary of economy and smaller enterprises, Chile; Javier Medina, deputy executive secretary of ECLAC; and José Alves de Souza Neto, president of cooperatives of the Americas. On this occasion, Javier Medina will give a conference entitled The territorial approach in productive development.
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