Cooperatives

Conference: "The cooperative enterprise as a social economy actor towards social and economic development in the Mediterranean"

Organised by the Euro-mediterranean Network of Social Economy (ESMED) and the Spanish Business Confederation of Social Economy (CEPES)

Tuesday 8 May 2012
Conference: "The cooperative enterprise as a social economy actor towards social and economic development in the Mediterranean"
Murcia (Spain)

Last update: 26/04/2012

This conference is organised in the framework of the UN International Year of Cooperatives 2012 by the Spanish Business Confederation of Social Economy (CEPES) and the members of the Euro-Mediterranean Network of Social Economy (ESMED), with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).

Cooperatives account for 1 billion members and more than 100 million workers worldwide. In the seven countries covered by the ESMED Network (Algeria, France, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia), more than 138,000 cooperatives are generating 2 million jobs and associating more than 43 million people. Therefore cooperatives are an unquestionable economic and social reality and have become a priority of the European Commission’s EURO-MEDITERRANEAN PROGRAM OF INDUSTRIAL COOPERATION 2011-2012.

Limited places. Deadline for registration: 03 May 2012

Information and registration: Spanish Business Confederation of Social Economy CEPES (Tel.: +34.91.593.04.12 - E-mail: euromed[at]cepes.es

Working languages: English, French and Spanish

General objectives:

to make the cooperative movement more visible within the social and economic development in the partner countries of the Spanish cooperation development policy (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Syria, Palestine Territories, Tunisia and Turkey) together with the French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and the rest of the European Cooperative movement, making the most of the International Year of Cooperatives in 2012.

Identify work priorities to support the development of cooperatives in the partner countries and the Mediterranean.

Who should come?:

Cooperative and social Economy organisations; public administrations in charge of the promotion of cooperatives, as well as employers organisations, trade unions and civil society organisations from EU Member states and Mediterranean Neighbourhood countries.

Draft programme:

9:30 – 10:30 Opening

— Ramón Luis VALCÁRCEL, President of the Regional Government of Murcia (Spain)

— Representative of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation Development. Foreign Office and Department of Cooperation (Spain) (tbc)

— Fernando DE LA FUENTE, Director, Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM)

— José Antonio COBACHO, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Murcia (Spain)

— Juan Antonio PEDREÑO, President of the Spanish Business Confederation of Social Economy (CEPES) (Spain)

10:30 – 11:00 Conference “Promotion of Business in the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean”

The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) establishes a framework for political, economic and social cooperation between Southern Mediterranean and European countries. The Union for the Mediterranean is carrying out several initiatives to promote sustainable economic and social development in the Euro-Mediterranean region, including business development. The aim of this session is to show how the UfM initiatives are coming about to create employment and to strengthen social cohesion and how cooperatives and other Social Economy enterprises are being taken into account.

— Moderator: Moncef FENNICHE. National Union of Mutual Benefit Societies (UNAM) (Tunisia)

— Fernando DE LA FUENTE, Director, Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM)

11:00 - 11:30 COFFEE BREAK

11:30 - 12:00 Conference: “Keys towards the development of cooperatives in the Arab world. A look at the Mediterranean”

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has put forward several measures to favour the development and furthering of cooperatives in the Arab world. This conference will show ILO’s work priorities to promote cooperatives towards economic and social development in the region.

— Moderator: Juan Antonio PEDREÑO, President of CEPES, member of the ESMED Network (Spain)

— Ms. Simel ESIM. Global Programme on Cooperatives. International Labour Organisation (ILO)

12:00 – 13:30 Round table: “Business Development of cooperatives in the Mediterranean”.

Cooperatives have given rise to cooperative groups and unions that are leaders both in national and international markets. The aim of this session is to build a case and create a debate, through specific experiences in the northern and southern Mediterranean, regarding the process to establish cooperative groups and unions and the factors that have made them competitive.

— Moderator: Stefania MARCONE, LEGACOOP (Italy), member of the ESMED Network

— Emili VILLAESCUSA, President, Association for the Cooperation of the Social Economy (ASCES) (Spain)

— Randa Yousef ZEIN, General Director, Union of Cooperative Associations for Saving and Credit (UCASC) (Palestine)

— Huseyin POLAT, Advisor, National Cooperative Union of Turkey

— Representative of a French Cooperative Group (tbc)

13:30 – 15:00 Lunch break

15:00 – 16:00 Round table conference: Representative organisations of cooperatives in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership

Cooperatives have established their own representative organisations, with different structure levels in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership countries. The aim of this session is to understand the state of the matter with regard to structure and representation in order to study the elements required to strengthen coordination between the different cooperative organisations in the sphere of the Union for the Mediterranean.

— Moderator: João Salazar LEITE, Manager for International Affairs. CASES (Portugal), ESMED Network member

— Agnès MATHIS, Deputy Director, COOPERATIVES EUROPE

— Mahmoud MANSOUR, General Co-Operative Union of the Arab Republic of Egypt

— Rida ELAMYS, Chairman, Lebanese National Federation of Cooperatives (FNCL) (Lebanon)

16:00 – 17:00 Round table conference: Programmes to promote cooperatives in the Mediterranean

Cooperatives need an environment that allows them to carry out their business activities according to their own principles and values. In order to build this environment, suitable legislation is necessary together with programmes that support cooperatives. This session will show experiences of how public authorities have specific departments to support and monitor cooperatives and the impact that these programmes have in generating employment, development and social cohesion.

— Moderator: Miguel Ángel García, Director General of Self-Employment, Social Economy and Corporate Responsibility. Ministry of Employment and Social Security (Spain)

— Fernando José VELES, Director General of Labour, Regional Department for Education, Training and Employment. Regional Government of Murcia (Spain)

— Mustapha BOUCHAFRA. General Inspector, Office for Cooperative Development (ODCo) (Morocco)

— Maen IRSHAIDAT, General Director, Jordan Cooperative Corporation (JCC) (Jordan)

17:00 – 17:30 Closing Statements

— Constantino SOTOCA, Regional Minister for Education, Training and Employment. Regional Government of Murcia (Spain)

— Miguel Ángel García, Director General of Self-Employment, Social Economy and Corporate Responsibility. Ministry of Employment and Social Security (Spain)

— Juan Antonio PEDREÑO, President of CEPES (Spain)