The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Cooperatives today held its annual general meeting for all those cooperatives operating in the country.
Everyone from credit unions to agriculture organizations were invited to the St. John's credit union to discuss their achievements and their downfalls in the past year. Registrar of cooperatives - Zenaida Moya says gatherings like this help to address problems facing cooperatives.
Zenaida Moya,
"We come together and discuss the current situation as it pertains to credit unions and cooperatives. We also discuss our achievement for 2003 and therefore discuss and plan future endeavors as it pertains to each society."
"The cooperative sector serves to a large extent the poor and the middle class people. They in most instances don't have the resources-whether it's financial or managerial to have a business on their own. We have noted that the cooperative model can work for Belize and most developing countries."
"We come together and discuss the problems whether it's the management, financial problems, or whether it's the actual cooperative spirit. We try to instill the cooperative spirit into some societies."
The Ministry holds a general meeting for the fisheries department, agricultural department and cooperatives every year to hold similar discussions.