Iran and Malaysia have discussed ways to promote collaboration in the cooperatives sector, reported Mehr news agency. Iran’s deputy minister for cooperatives, labor, and social welfare, Hamid Kalantari, met his Malaysian counterpart in Putrajaya, the federal administrative centre of Malaysia, on Tuesday. Kalantari told Elyas Haji Ahmad there were over 100,000 cooperatives in Iran with 11 million members. He also said the members have grown to 46 million after the former government distributed Justice Shares through 240 cooperatives among low-income people. He emphasized that cooperatives sector should account for 25% of the economy by 2016. The figure currently stands at 6%. Iranian officials said recently that the country does not need more cooperatives.
