33rd World Cooperative Congress

The World Cooperative Congress has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will be held from 1-3 March 2021 in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

33rd World Cooperative Congress will discuss an array of themes that are linked to the cooperative identity and will be useful both for cooperatives’ positioning at the national and international level at a time when the recognition of our specificities is increasingly difficult and for cooperatives to learn how to better use the cooperative identity to do business and increase their business sales in a context of global competition. For this, a number of high-quality papers and studies will be prepared and will be presented.

Congress itself will be preceded by two preparatory events namely the ICA Cooperative Research Conference (26-27 February 2021) and an International Cooperative Law Forum (27-28 February 2021), which will discuss themes related to the Congress. For more information on these two events, click here. Several other side events will also be organized.

Eligibility

• 33rd World Cooperative Congress is expecting about 2,000 participants consisting of International Co-operative Alliance ICA members and cooperators from around the world.

Benefits

The World Cooperative Congress in 2021 will be an opportunity to look back and validate the cooperative movement’s resilience, leadership, and solidarity during times of crisis. This event will serve as an important forum to:

• Discuss why the cooperative identity, including definition, principles, and values, is needed now more than ever;
• Show cooperative resilience by sharing experiences and testimonies; and
• Discuss how cooperatives can significantly contribute to the global economic, social, and environmental reconstruction.

Application process

• ICA Cooperative Research Conference: Call for Abstracts and Panel proposals. Submit your abstracts and panel proposals for the ICA Cooperative Research Conference at research.congress@worldcoopcongress.coop.
• 3^rd International Forum on Cooperative Law: Call for Abstracts. Submit your abstracts for the International Forum on Cooperative Law at lawforum@worldcoopcongress.coop or legislation@ica.coop.