Abdul Fattah Re-elected As ACO President For 2026-2030 Term

KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 (Bernama) -- Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Berhad (ANGKASA) president Datuk Seri Dr Abdul Fattah Abdullah was unanimously re-elected as president of the ASEAN Co-operative Organisation (ACO) for the 2026-2030 term.

The election was held during the ACO annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday, extending Malaysia’s leadership in the regional cooperative organisation, as he had held the position since 2014.

Abdul Fattah said the unanimous re-election reflected the confidence of ASEAN member countries in Malaysia’s leadership in strengthening the regional cooperative movement and expanding people-based economic cooperation at the international level.

“ACO must become the main platform for strengthening the people’s economy in ASEAN through strategic cooperation among cooperatives, particularly in the areas of food security, halal, community tourism, digitalisation and green energy.

“We want ASEAN cooperatives to become a more resilient, inclusive and competitive people’s economic force at the international level,” he said in a statement today.

He said the new mandate would strengthen the Cooperative-to-Cooperative (C2C) trade network within ASEAN while also expanding market opportunities for Malaysian cooperative products and services globally.

The ACO was established on Dec 6, 1977, through a joint declaration by the apex cooperative bodies of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore to strengthen economic cooperation and the development of the cooperative movement in the ASEAN region.

ACO now comprises all 10 ASEAN member states, with a total of 347,599 cooperatives and more than 66.6 million members across the region.

According to the statement, the ASEAN cooperative movement contributes about five per cent to ASEAN’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), equivalent to USD195 billion, while generating more than 11 million job opportunities across various economic sectors.

Abdul Fattah said ACO is also committed to empowering youth cooperatives, women’s cooperatives, school cooperatives and community cooperatives as drivers of ASEAN’s sustainable development in the future.

This year’s ACO AGM brought together cooperative leaders from Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand and Timor-Leste to discuss agendas related to economic empowerment, regional cooperative trade development and future strategic cooperation.

-- BERNAMA