Kang Ho-dong, president of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, begins a new four-year term by being re-elected as ICAO president.

New 4-year term begins... He was also reappointed as a director of the International Cooperative Federation.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Hong Guk-ki = The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation announced on the 15th that Chairman Kang Ho-dong was re-elected as Chairman of the International Cooperative Agricultural Organization (ICAO) and will begin a new four-year term.

Chairman Kang was re-elected as Chairman at the ICAO General Assembly held in Panama City, Panama on the 14th (local time), and was accordingly re-appointed as a director of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), which represents agricultural cooperatives around the world.

ICAO is an agricultural organization under the ICA, founded in 1951, and represents approximately 1 billion cooperative members around the world.

Currently, 45 organizations from 35 countries participate as members, and the president of the Korea Agricultural Cooperative Federation has served as ICAO president since 1998.

Since taking office as ICAO President in July 2024, Chairman Kang has served as a director of ICA and a director of the International Cooperative Alliance Asia-Pacific (ICA-AP).

In particular, it led the hosting of the ICAO Seoul General Assembly to mark the '2025 International Year of Cooperatives' declared by the United Nations last year.

At this event, the 'ICAO Seoul Declaration' was adopted, which contains contents such as strengthening food security, responding to climate crisis, fostering young and female farmers, spreading agricultural values, protecting farmers' rights and interests, introducing cutting-edge agricultural technology, and strengthening solidarity between cooperatives.

In addition, the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation introduced that Chairman Kang has been sharing the development experience of Korean agricultural cooperatives with member organizations, including informing the international community of the 'Nongshim Cheonsim' movement, which means the heart of the farmer is the will of heaven.

Chairman Kang expressed his ambition, saying, "In the face of crises facing global agriculture, such as the climate crisis and food security, the solidarity of cooperatives is more urgent than ever. Based on the spirit of the Seoul Declaration, global agricultural cooperatives will overcome the crisis together and open a sustainable future for agriculture and rural areas where farmers are respected."