International Day of Cooperatives

Press conference by the Co-Chairs of the UN Secretary-General's Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals, Ambassador Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa and Director-General Ditte Juul Jørgensen of the European Commission, on the release of the panel's report. 

Watch the Press Conference: Co-Chairs of the UN Secretary-General's Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals.

For the 2024 CoopsDay, cooperatives can showcase their high standards for inclusive and sustainable growth, and service as stewards for protecting the environment and fighting climate change.

Through democratic governance and shared ownership, cooperatives set an example for peace and stability, bringing people from diverse backgrounds together on equal terms, and fostering understanding and respect.

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International Day of Cooperatives

This year on July 6, cooperatives around the world will celebrate the International Day of Cooperatives with the theme "Cooperatives Building a Better Future for All". Cooperatives will have the opportunity to showcase their current and historical contributions to building a sustainable future, accelerating efforts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030.

Watch the UN DESA International Day/International Year of Cooperatives!

Cooperatives build a better future for all

How is your cooperatives buiding abetter future for all?

Celebrate the 30th edition of the International Day of Cooperatives and the 102nd anniversary of the International Cooperatoves Day with us.

- Dia Internacional de las cooperativas.

Mi tablero de vision cooperativa.

De que manera tu cooperativa construye in futuro mejor?

Celebró el Día Internacional de las Cooperativas.

Las cooperativas construyen un futuro mejor para todas las personas.

Le tableau de bord de ma vision coopérative.

Comment votre coopérative construit-elle un avenir meilleur?

Célèbrons la Journée internationale des coopératives 2024.

14:30 - 14:45 Spotlight intervention

Professor Richard Baldwin, Professor of international economics, International Institute for Management Development

14:45 - 15:30 Panel Dialogue: Reshaping Foreign Direct Investment and Global Value Chains for Development

Speakers:

Kalthoum Ben Rejeb Guezzah, Minister of Trade and Export Development, Government of Tunisia

Sahib Mammadov, Deputy Minister of Economy, Government of Azerbaijan

Nuno Sampaio, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Government of Portugal

Mohammed Alzarooni, Chairman of the Board of Directors, World Free Zones Organization

Moderator:

Tatiana Molcean, Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)

15:30 - 15:45 Spotlight intervention

Mahendra Siregar, Chief of Financial Services Authority, Indonesia

15:45 - 16:30 Panel debate: Catching Up Is Hard: Development Strategies in a World of Cascading Crises

Speakers:

John Mutorwa, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Works and Transport, Government of Namibia

Javier González-Olaechea, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Government of Peru

Marie Paulette Parfaite Amouyeme Ollame Epse Divassa Boffi, Minister of Commerce and SMEs, Government of Gabon

Jean Chrysostome Ngabitsinze, Minister of Trade and Industry, Government of Rwanda

Vladimir Ilichev, Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Government of the Russian Federation

Moderator:

José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary, ECLAC

16:30 - 17:00 Closing session: Forward together

Speaker:

Rebeca Grynspan, UN Trade and Development Secretary-General

17:00 - 17:30: Musical performance - Closing

Related Sites and Documents

Learn more Full programme

UNCTAD's Global Leaders Forum "Charting a new development course in a changing world", 12-14 June 2024. The United Nations Secretary-General, heads of state, ministers, government officials, experts and leading economists will convene to discuss urgent trade and development challenges in an increasingly diverse and challenging global economy.

Watch the Ministerial sessions (Afternoon) - Global Leaders Forum.

UNCTAD's Global Leaders Forum "Charting a new development course in a changing world", 12-14 June 2024. The UN Secretary-General, heads of state, ministers, government officials, experts and leading economists will convene to discuss urgent trade and development challenges in an increasingly diverse and challenging global economy.

Programme:

10:00 - 10:15 Spotlight intervention

Wang Shouwen, China International Trade Representative and Vice Minister of Commerce

10:15 - 11:00 Panel Dialogue: Making Industrial Policy Work for Trade and Development

Speakers:

Karien van Gennip, Deputy Prime Minister, The Netherlands

Souleymane Diarrassouba, Minister of Trade and Industry, Government of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire

Younes Sekkouri, Minister of Economic Inclusion, Morocco

Jessy Carmelle Petit-Frère, Professor, Researcher and Speaker

John W.H. Denton, Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce

Moderator:

Peter Ogbu Okwoche, Broadcaster and journalist

11:00 - 11:15 Spotlight intervention

Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

11:15 - 12:00 Panel Dialogue: Shaping a Digital Future for People and Planet

Speakers:

Majid Al-Kassabi, Minister of Commerce, Government of Saudi Arabia

Stefan Löfven, Co-Chair, High-level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism

Ian Saunders, Secretary-General, World Customs Organization

Thea Lee, Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs, Government of the United States of America

Moderator:

Amandeep Singh Gill, Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Technology

12:00 - 12:15 Spotlight intervention

Dr. Sok Siphana, Senior Minister, Cambodia

12:15 - 13:00 Panel Dialogue: Preparing for the Economies of Tomorrow - the Urgency of Options and Actions

Speakers:

Rui Miguêns de Oliveira, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Government of Angola

Minh Hang Nguyen, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Government of Vietnam

Eva Granados Galiano, State Secretary for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Spain

Selim Uddin, Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh

Pasi Hellman, Undersecretary of State for International Development, Government of Finland

Moderator:

Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary, UN Economic Commission for Africa

Related Sites and Documents

Learn more

Full programme

Watch the Ministerial sessions (Morning) - Global Leaders Forum!

The UNCTAD's Global Leaders Forum entitled "Charting a new development course in a changing world", 12-14 June 2024. The UN Secretary-General, heads of state, ministers, government officials, experts and leading economists will convene to discuss urgent trade and development challenges in an increasingly diverse and challenging global economy.

Watch the Heads of State sessions - Global Leaders Forum!

The high-level roundtable will discuss the grave situation of trade union rights in Belarus with UN special rapporteurs.

Watch the High-Level roundtable on Freedom of Association in Belarus!

In June 2023, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) signed a letter of intent to launch the second phase of their Development Cooperation Programme. Through this partnership, the ILO provides support to the Ministry in analysis, policy, and capacity development in five main priority areas that were identified jointly with the Ministry, in alignment with the country’s Vision 2030 and building on achievements made so far. 

On Thursday, April 18, 2024, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE) hosted an anniversary webinar. The event featured regional updates and reflections on the progress since last year’s adoption of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution promoting the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) for sustainable development. The webinar attracted nearly 400 registrants from 65 countries. Accessibility in French, English, and Spanish ensured inclusivity for a diverse audience.

A Year of Global Progress

The event kicked off with a welcome statement from Ms Simel Esim, Head of Cooperative, Social and Solidarity Economy at the ILO and Co-Chair of the UNTFSSE. “Each region brings its unique insights and challenges, enriching our dialogue and enhancing our understanding of how to effectively promote sustainable development across different contexts,” Ms Esim stated. Noting the ILO's role as a co-founder and leader of the Task Force for most of the past decade, she underscored the past year's key achievements for the UNTFSSE and the ILO in follow-up to the ILC resolution concerning decent work and the SSE. She notably highlighted the online self-learning modules for awareness raising on the SSE, developed for the UNTFSSE by the ILO and its International Training Centre in Turin, with support from the Government of Luxembourg.

Ms Chantal Line Carpentier, Head of Trade, Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainable Development at UN Trade and Development and Co-Chair of the UNTFSSE, presented a summary of the UNTFSSE’s Strategic Action Plan for 2024-2026. She noted that the plan prioritizes implementing the UNGA resolution, preparing the UN Secretary General’s report, institutionalizing Task Force governance, and promoting key areas such as policy coherence, education and research, access to financial and non-financial support services, and statistics. Linking the SSE to a new economics for sustainable development she noted: “We see a lot of regional progress, and we need to make sure it goes global, and it goes national, and it goes local. And all of this we can do with our partners at all the levels, but it will require some resources.” 

Regional Level Highlights 

The webinar showcased updates from various regions, beginning with two video messages from Spain and Chile, two co-sponsors of the UNGA resolution, that highlighted the launch of the Ibero-American Network for the Promotion of the SSE. On the Iberian side, Ms Amparo Merino, Secretary of State for the Social Economy from Spain’s Ministry of Labour and Social Economy, praised the resolution as “a true example of international cooperation in these times in which conflict and international disorder seem to prevail.” On the Americas side, Ms Claudia Fuentes Julio, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations Office at Geneva, stated: "Our commitment to social justice is at the heart of our efforts to promote the SSE. This dedication transcends borders as demonstrated by the participation of more than a dozen governments of the Americas in the ILO Global Coalition for Social Justice." 

Following these two video messages, Mr Patrick Klein, Head of Sector for Social Economy and Social Enterprise, and Ms Margit Perko, Policy Officer at the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, both representatives of the European Commission, discussed the implementation of the Social Economy Action Plan. Mr Klein underlined the importance of supporting “social economy actors to be a beacon in … the green transition [and] the digital transition." Ms Perko presented highlights of progress, such as the adoption of the Council Recommendation on developing social economy framework conditions and the launch of the EU Social Economy Gateway.

Participants then heard from Mr Sabelo Mbokazi, Head of Labour, Employment, and Migration Division at the African Union (AU) Commission. He discussed the AU’s engagement with the SSE, including the development, with ILO support, of a ten-year SSE Strategy and mapping studies to inform policy making. The strategy is set to be endorsed by Ministers responsible for Social Development, Labour, and Employment at the end of July in 2024. “The strides made so far,” he noted, “stand as a testament to the transformative potential of SSE in advancing socio-economic progress across the Continent.” 

And lastly, Mr Denison Jayasooria, Former Chair of the Asian Solidarity Economy Council (ASEC) and Head of Secretariat, All Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia on SDGs, shared the perspective of SSE actors in Asia and the Pacific, in the absence of an intergovernmental regional initiative on the SSE. Mr Jayasooria emphasized the vibrancy of the SSE movement in the region as “an alternative model of doing business and development … towards a more sustainable, inclusive, and just development.” Discussing the policy situation, he underscored the need to build on the multi-country research initiative with the ILO.

Participant Reflections & Re-Commitment

The presentations sparked a period of reflection among designated participants, including representatives from the Ministry of Microfinance and the Social and Solidarity Economy of the Government of Senegal, which co-sponsored the UNGA resolution, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Global Social Economy Forum and SSE International Forum. Joining the ILO’s Global Social Justice Coalition was emphasized as a key opportunity to promote the SSE. Looking ahead, upcoming milestones include the UN Summit of the Future, the Second World Summit for Social Development, and the second UN International Year of Cooperatives in 2025.

A video recording of the event is available here.

Fireside chat with UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed and Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley.

Watch the UN Deputy Secretary-General remark at the Global Inclusive Growth Summit 2024 (Washington, DC).