Quezon City, Philippines – With the theme “Enhancing ASEAN Economic Collaboration through Cooperatives”, 6^th ASEAN Cooperative Business Forum was held last 29 and 30November 2016 at Novotel Hotel, Quezon City, Philippines. It was a coming together of around 135 participants from Cooperative Development, Co-op and Farmer leaders, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Regional and International Development partners and other stakeholders in the  ASEAN Member – States Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Non-ASEAN country-delegates from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyztan attended the ACBF.
The event was jointly organized by Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) of the Republic of the Philippines, in cooperation with the ASEAN Center for Agricultural Cooperatives (ACEDAC) and the ASEAN Sectoral Working Group on Agricultural Cooperative (ASWGAC), and in partnership with ASEAN Farmers’ Organization Support Program (AFOSP) implemented by Asian Farmers’ Organization for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC) together with regional CSOs and agri-agencies AsiaDHRRA, CSA, and We EFFECT, FFD – Finland, and international development partners Oxfam, IFAD, European Union, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and local/national Cooperative partners Federation of Peoples’ Sustainable Development Cooperative (FPSDC), NutriWealth Multipurpose Cooperative, KaPandesal Multipurpose Cooperative, Philippine Army Finance – Producers Integrated Cooperative, GMA 7 Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative, MASS – SPECC Cooperative Development Center, FSSI, San Dionisio Credit Cooperative, LAMAC Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Peace and Equity Foundation, NSCC, PCC, Metro South Coop, HCSCCO, CLIMBS, Coop-NATCCO Network, and Fatima Credit Cooperative.

The ACBF included presentations, workshops, knowledge sharing from resource persons, delegates of farmers’ organizations, cooperative members, Agri-agencies, international development organizations and government representatives working on cooperative development. Particularly, country-level experiences and lessons learned coming from successful cooperatives within the ASEAN Region and outside such as China, Japan, Nepal, and Europe were presented.
Themes/topics covered during the forum included the evolution and history of early ASEAN based cooperatives, exemplary policies promulgated by government or advocated by cooperatives themselves, innovations on marketing, production, and organizational development. Furthermore, larger themes on regional cooperation among agricultural cooperatives, and social solidarity economy (SSE) in relation to basic cooperative principles (7 Principles of Cooperatives).
Also, “alternative” forms of regional cooperation and partnership, key challenges faced by cooperatives given the ASEAN Economic Integration, and recommendations/solutions were also presented during the forum, plus the ACBF Declaration that will serve as input and recommendations for ASEAN Working Group on Agricultural Cooperative (ASWGAC) towards the formulation of ASEAN Roadmap on Agricultural Cooperatives.
AsiaDHRRA is a CSO affiliate of the ASEAN.