Deputy Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, Hamid Kalantari, said on Friday that nearly $1 billion worth of commodities have been exported to other countries by the cooperatives sector so far this year (ending March 20), ISNA reported on Friday.
“There are currently 100.000 cooperatives active across the country,” Kalantari said, adding that the cooperative sector has to be turned into an “active and effective entity.” Calling for the establishment of what he described “cooperative network”, he said it would resolve many problems such as lack of finance which the cooperative sector is currently facing.
Article 44 of the Constitution stipulates that the national economy falls into three categories of public, cooperative and private sectors. It explicitly underlines the role and significance of the cooperative sector when it reads that public sector operations should be limited to a certain extent and that the private sector is complementary to the public and cooperative sectors.The government of President Hassan Rouhani has allocated 5,500 billion rials ($159 million) in the next budget to stimulate the cooperatives sector.
“Nearly 3,360 cooperatives are reported to have been established during the first ten months of the current year,” Kalantari said earlier, while providing statistics about both female and male employees working in the cooperative sector. “The total number of female members in the newly-established cooperatives amounts to 13,500, while nearly 41,000 men are reported to be working with the cooperatives,” Kalantari said.
Cooperatives are said to be active in different economic sectors including agriculture, housing, hand-woven carpets among others.
