Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions, Ahmad Riza Patria, has asked the managers of Red and White Village Cooperatives to set up offices and outlets in existing buildings in their villages.
The use of existing buildings would help save capital expenditure on village cooperative establishment, he explained at a launch and meeting on Tuesday on accelerating the establishment of Red and White Village Cooperatives in Gorontalo, as per a statement issued the same day.
Cooperatives are essentially businesses, so they must generate profits, he said.
According to Patria, if cooperatives turn a profit, they will be able to grow bigger.
“The more goods with cheap prices, the more people would be prosperous. For that reason, cooperatives must make a profit,” he said.
On the same occasion, Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions, Yandri Susanto, praised all government ranks in Gorontalo, from the governor to the village heads, noting that the formation of village cooperatives in the province has reached 100 percent.
He further said that to streamline coordination, the Red and White village cooperatives task force at the provincial, district, and city levels will be chaired directly by governors, district heads, and mayors.
The Indonesian government’s goal of forming 80 thousand Red and White Village Cooperatives has been achieved. As of Monday, 80,002 village cooperatives have been established in the country.
The next stage will be accelerating the legalization of the cooperatives, which is targeted for completion in late June 2025.
The cooperatives are planned to be inaugurated simultaneously on July 12, 2025, coinciding with National Cooperatives Day.
