The ICA Agricultural Sector Assembly, organised in coordination with the Alliance of Italian Agri-Food Cooperatives, was held in Rome from 9 to 11 July.
The three-day event opened on Tuesday 9 with a meeting between Vice-President Attilio Dadda, member of the ICA Board, and Mr. Hodong Kang, President of ICAO and
the Korea National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF). The meeting, supported by the head of Legacoop's international relations office Francesca Ottolenghi, offered an opportunity to share visions and strategies regarding the evolution of the ICA also in view of the ICA Congress in India in November and the launch of the International Year of Cooperatives. Subsequently, Vice-President Dadda opened the work of the ICAO Executive Committee at the UNAHotel deco. The morning of the 10th was devoted to the ICA Assembly, which was attended by representatives of the Alliance of Italian Agri-Food Cooperatives, welcoming agricultural cooperative organisations from Cameroon, Uganda, Brazil, Paraguay, China, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Poland, Turkey and Malta.
In the afternoon the meeting opened to external stakeholders through the Workshop 'Fostering Generational Change in Agriculture: the Role of Cooperatives'. The Workshop was opened by Giampaolo Buonfiglio on behalf of the Alliance of Italian Agri-Food Cooperatives and was enriched by speeches from experts Hisham Zehni of IFAD, and Ileana Grandelis of FAO, and for the cooperative movement by Leonardo Pofferi, Vice-President of COGECA, and Simona Casell, President of Cooperativa Granlatte. There were numerous testimonies of good practices from the participating cooperative organisations, including the You Cool project on youth and digitalisation being launched between Haliéus and the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance.
On Thursday 11, the delegation then had the opportunity to visit an example of excellence in agricultural cooperation in Lazio, the San Lidano cooperative. Welcomed by Quality Manager Giulio Benvenuti, the participants were able to visit both the production activities at the greenhouses of a farm that is a member of the cooperative as well as some of the processing phases, and then delve into the main guidelines that have determined the cooperative's success and expansion over the years, also in terms of Governance, relations with members, and Sustainability Certification.
On request of the international counterparts, it was then possible to organise some bilateral meetings, such as the visit of the President of the ICAO and the Korea National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) to Ipercoop Roma Eur. The visit was an opportunity for the Korean agricultural cooperatives, which also manage the Hanaro Nonghyup chain, to learn about the functioning of Coop shops, also in view of the evaluation of possible commercial synergies through Coop Italian Food.
Legacoop Agroalimentare, with Director Sara Guidelli and Gabriel Cecchini, Gabriele Verginelli of Legacoop's International Office, Francesco Gastaldi of the Sustainability Office and Claudia Colabella Project Manager of Haliéus contributed to the organisation and realisation of the three-day event.
