Abu Dhabi, June 01: The new draft law on cooperative societies provides the cooperatives the opportunity to open branches in other emirates. According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, it also provides more facilities, benefiting from the latest international experiences of cooperatives, namely the Singaporean cooperative Act.
The new draft law has been submitted to the legislative entities concerned in the government for action, the ministry said. The draft law will be issued soon after being put in its final read, and then put forward to the authorities concerned in the government, said Abdullah Rashid Al Suwaidi, Director General of the Ministry.
In a statement on the sidelines of a ceremony held in Abu Dhabi to honour the bodies supporting the cooperative initiative, he said the ministry is keen on submitting the draft law to the bodies concerned in both government and cooperative sectors, for their perusal.
He said the move was designed to identify the advanced initiatives in the field of cooperative societies, so they can be included in the law, in a way that matches the local requirements. It is to keep them within the principles of cooperation which have been outlined by the law, and separate them from the nature of the work of trade companies.
Meanwhile, Naji Al Hai, CEO for Social Development Department at the Ministry, said the new draft law offers more facilities and freedom to the cooperatives in investment and in clearing the hurdles that they face.
The Ministry, according to him, is keen to have the law keep in line with the principles of the international cooperatives, and benefit from the experiences of the Arab countries and the Arab cooperatives union.
“We have translated international cooperative laws, such as the Canadian and the Singaporean laws,” he said, adding that the latter is the latest statute in the world, which was issued in 2008. “We have always been in touch with the international cooperatives alliance to benefit from its experience in this domain,” he said.
–Agencies