ICR 2026 Strategic Platform To Strengthen Malaysia's Global Cooperative Presence - IKMa DG

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 (Bernama) -- The International Cooperative Roundtable 2026 (ICR 2026) serves as a strategic platform for Malaysia to expand its influence and strengthen its cooperative sector's position internationally, said Malaysian Cooperative Institute (IKMa) director-general Datuk Dr Mohd Ali Mansor.

He said ICR 2026, themed "Empowering Talent, Advancing Sustainability and Driving Innovation in ASEAN Cooperatives", brought together 148 participants from nine countries, including Australia, Ghana, India and Japan, to generate ideas and proposals for developing cooperative talent across ASEAN.

"Besides focusing on domestic cooperative development, we aim to expand Malaysia's international influence through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Thailand today," he told reporters after the opening ceremony of ICR 2026 here today.

Also present were Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry (KUSKOP) deputy secretary-general (Entrepreneur Development) Datuk Saidatu Akhma Hassan and Malaysia Cooperative Societies Commission (SKM) chief executive officer Mohd Marzuki Yasoa'.

The event was also attended by Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Berhad (ANGKASA) president Datuk Seri Dr Abdul Fattah Abdullah and Malaysia Cooperative Entrepreneurship University (UKKM) vice-chancellor Datuk Prof Dr Azali Mohamed.

Mohd Ali said the collaboration would see IKMa officers sent periodically to Thailand to learn from its agricultural and consumer cooperatives, while Thai delegations would visit Malaysia to study the management of financial cooperatives such as Bank Rakyat, Koperasi Angkatan Tentera and Co-opbank Permata.

He said IKMa was also actively promoting Malaysia's expertise in cooperative training and education through the Pacific Islands Cooperative Network (PICON), the African-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO) and the United Nations (UN).

In conjunction with IKMa's 70th anniversary platinum jubilee this year, Mohd Ali said the institute had established a comprehensive formal education system, offering programmes ranging from short courses to Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees through UKKM.

"We now want to enhance the content of all programmes to make them more attractive and relevant to market needs, particularly those of the cooperative sector," he said.

Earlier, in his opening address, Mohd Ali said Malaysia had 16,468 cooperatives with 7.3 million members as of last year, recording a combined turnover of RM81.6 billion and accumulated shares and fees totalling RM18.6 billion.

Meanwhile, Saidatu Akhma in her speech said that IKMa had produced generations of capable cooperative leaders over the past seven decades to advance the objectives of the Malaysia Cooperative Policy (DaKoM) 2030.

She expressed hope that cooperatives, both locally and internationally, would move beyond traditional activities such as produce collection and small-scale retailing to explore high-value markets through processing activities and the development of their own brands.

She said financial and consumer cooperatives should also embrace and leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and the digital economy to enhance their competitiveness in an increasingly challenging business environment.

"Our mission is to elevate cooperatives from being mere participants in the economy to becoming high-impact contributors," she said.

-- BERNAMA