Minister of Social Affairs Yousuf Al-Othaimeen opened the four-day event — which is running under the theme “Toward a Contemporary Concept of Cooperation” — on behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah on Saturday.
Majed Darweesh, chairman of the preparatory committee and head of the cooperative organization for the staff of Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia), which is hosting the meeting, said besides discussing challenges facing cooperative societies in the Kingdom, the gathering “will review some of the successful experiments of cooperatives in the world and will debate working papers about the concept of cooperation with a view to boosting the activities of cooperatives in the Kingdom.”
Darweesh added that the meeting would consider ways of increasing the income of cooperatives, the best methods to invest their assets and the role of the media in supporting them.
“There is a need to have cooperatives in villages, hamlets and remote areas in the Kingdom to spread the concept of cooperation throughout the Kingdom," he said, describing the experiment of cooperatives in the Kingdom as encouraging.
“The meeting will further consolidate the importance of cooperatives for Saudi society,” he said.
The Sunday morning session, “The Essence and Mechanisms of Organizational Work,” is to be chaired by Abdul Aziz Al-Hadlaq, assistant undersecretary for Social Development at the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Mahmoud Mansour, secretary-general of the Arab Cooperative Federation, will speak on the developmental role of cooperative societies and the organizational framework for growth management, while Hamoud Al-Harbi, chairman of the board of directors of the Cooperative Agricultural Society in Madinah, will speak on cooperative societies, between concept and application.
Muhammad Hidayah, adviser to the Muslim World League and a member of Egypt’s Islamic Research Academy, will speak on the Islamic perspective of cooperative work.
The second session, “The Present and Future of Cooperatives: Requirements and Subsidies,” will be attended by the undersecretaries of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in addition to board members of various cooperative societies.
The third session on Sunday, “The Legislative Systems for Cooperative Work,” will be chaired by Saleh Al-Khaleel, assistant undersecretary for consumer affairs in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Speakers in the session include Khaled Al-Muhaideb, a legal adviser and a former member of the board of directors of the Water Desalination Workers’ Cooperative Society in the Eastern Province; and Khaleel Buhuzae, representative of the social affairs office of the Council of GCC Ministers of Labor and Social Affairs.
The session on Monday will focus on administrative leadership and voluntary work, local success stories in cooperative experiments and the role of the media in promoting cooperative services. The topics of discussion on Tuesday will be cooperative societies in universities and investment in cooperative society assets.
