KUALA LUMPUR: The initiative of Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Bhd (ANGKASA) to support cooperatives in business activities and pilot projects has greatly improved the status of cooperatives, said its president Datuk Abdul Fattah Abdullah.

He said the potential offered by business chains provided opportunities for micro-level cooperatives to remain active in doing business and change their status to small, medium and macro cooperatives.

"The Cooperative Empowerment Project (CEP) under the ANGKASA Strategic Economic Master Plan opens up opportunities for cooperatives to engage in high-scale economic activities to enable the cooperative movement to grow towards achieving the revenue target in Malaysia of RM60 billion by 2030.

"Cooperatives must also be prepared to play a role by being equipped with a new mindset, entrepreneurial skills and capital resources in the CEP project led by ANGKASA to meet the needs of the domestic and international markets," he said in a statement issued in conjunction with the 2021 ANGKASA general meeting (MAPA) held in a hybrid manner yesterday.

Abdul Fattah said ANGKASA's efforts in generating excellence in the Malaysian cooperative business sector on the international stage had made history during the 50 years of its establishment, among others, earning the recognition of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA).

-- BERNAMA