Staff Reporter:
President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has called for eliminating corruption, strengthening the capacity of cooperative societies, taking effective initiatives to market their products and amending necessary laws to revive the cooperative movement in the country.
“Most cooperative societies had been tumbledown due to corruption within them, weakening their activities. Only a handful of organizations are functioning successfully, although the cooperative movement had a long history. Cooperative organizations must be made corruption-free to ensure success,” he said.
The President made the remarks while addressing a program as the chief guest marking the 55th National Cooperative Day 2026 at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital this morning.
The President said the cooperative movement began in 1904 and continued for a long period. In the meantime, Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman had attached great importance to cooperatives.
“Ziaur Rahman had taken initiatives to integrate cooperatives into his self-reliance movement, through which he wanted to build a self-reliant Bangladesh. For this, he brought Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan, who was recognized as a pioneer of the cooperative movement in Bangladesh in the 1960s, back from Pakistan and involved him in the movement by appointing him Director General of the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD).”
The cooperative movement had an opportunity to make considerable progress then, he said.
The President also highlighted the significant contributions and initiatives of Begum Khaleda Zia, to cooperative development and expressed the hope that the cooperative sector would gain further momentum under the leadership of the present government.
Referring to successful cooperatives of the past, the President said, “Unfortunately, the cooperative movement no longer enjoys its past glory. Gradually, it had declined considerably, and the same level of importance and attention is no longer being given to the movement like in the past.”
In this connection, he called upon the concerned authorities to take necessary measures to amend and update the existing cooperative-related laws to make them suitable for the development and expansion of the cooperative sector.
At the same time, he urged the authorities to take measures to enable cooperative societies to survive by competing with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country.
“You have still kept the cooperative movement alive. However, merely keeping it alive will not be enough rather you have to take it forward and present it more extensively before the people,” he added, thanking the cooperative members.
Earlier, the President handed over awards and crests to successful cooperative members and organizations at the event.
State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam presided over the program.
President of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry, Secretary of the LGRD and Cooperatives Ministry AKM Selim Reza Habib, Ministry’s secretary Dr Rafiqul I Mohamed and President of the Bangladesh National Cooperative Md. Abdus Salam spoke as special guests while Registrar and Director General of the Department of Cooperatives Md. Salim Fakir delivered the welcome address.
The theme of this year’s Cooperative Day, organized by the Department of Cooperatives, is ‘Gorbo Somobay, Gorbo Desh. Sobar Jonno Bangladesh’ (We will build cooperatives; we will build the country. Bangladesh for all).
Earlier, upon arriving at the venue, the President visited different stalls.
