FAO Session in COPA COGECA 2012 Congress of european Farmers

The FAO Regional Conference for Europe (ERC) 2012 requested that the Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia to prepare three studies for the ERC 2014. One of these papers is on cooperatives. Based on previous experience, the Regional Conference paper will be drafted based on a survey of the literature, a series of background papers on consultations over the two years preceding ERC 2014.

REU planned two events dealing with cooperatives as a part of the consultative and preparatory process for ERC 2014. The first was a session at the COPA-COGECA Congress in October 2012. The second is a Green Week roundtable discussion in January 2013.

At the COPA-COGECA Congress FAO has been allotted a slot for a session “The diversity of agri-cooperatives in Europe and Central Asia: how can different experiences be shared and utilized”. The event presented a series of studies on agricultural service cooperative movements in five areas of the European and Central Asian region: (1) Western Europe; (2) Central and East Europe New Member States; (3) Western Balkan countries; (4) Cooperative movement in Central Asia and the Trans-Caucasus; and (5) Cooperative movement in Turkey or Israel.