TEHRAN (Iran News) –The president of the Iran Chamber of Cooperatives (ICC), in a meeting with the president of the JICA office emphasized the importance and priority of education and stated: Considering the extent of the cooperative sector and the necessity of training the latest technology in various fields, the training of managers and colleagues of the cooperative sector is one of the highest issue of the cooperative sector.

Bahman Abdollahi, the president of the ICC) met Mr. “Tanaka”, the president of the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) office in Tehran and emphasized the importance of education in various sectors.

While welcoming the president of JICA office in Tehran, the capabilities of the cooperative sector in Iran were introduced and he added: “Cooperatives have an important and effective position in Iran and many products are produced by the cooperative sector.”

He said: “One of our main demands is training managers and colleagues of the cooperative sector in various fields.” and “In order to increase the productivity, quality and production of products, we urgently need to familiarize ourselves with modern technologies and knowledge.”

He admitted: Cooperatives in the fields of agriculture, livestock and poultry, petrochemicals have an active role in the country and training in these sectors has a special priority.  to the necessity of holding training courses in other provinces of the country, the president of the Iran Chamber of Cooperatives said: The recent JICA courses were held in Tehran, and we hope that these courses will be held in other provinces as well.

Tanaka, while expressing his satisfaction at the presence in the ICC, said: JICA’s focus and attention is on job creation for small and medium-sized (SMEs) companies in various industries. He said: Currently, JICA is active in the field of tourism in Tabriz, fisheries in Hormozgan and in the field of agriculture in the north of Iran, and we are interested in expanding these activities and interacting more with other non-governmental organizations.

In other part of this meeting, the president of the ICC emphasized the importance of holding various face-to-face and online courses in Iran and Japan and suggested shortening the process of holding in-person training courses in Japan.

The head of the JICA office in Tehran also announced the interest of this organization to hold training courses and interact more with the Iran Chamber of Cooperatives in various sectors such as agriculture, knowledge-based and other sectors.

Abdollahi pointed out the importance of knowledge-based cooperatives in Iran: We have more than 210 knowledge-based cooperatives in the country operating in different sectors which have special importance in the country and receive special facilities and support for their activities.