ECCCL to begin operation soon

Two hundred and eighty Co-operators representing 40 Credit Unions, Leagues and Regulators from the OECS assembled in Dominica over the period May 18 to 20, 2006 for the fourth Annual OECS Credit Union Summit. The Summit was held under the Theme: “Time to Grow…enhancing the East Caribbean Central Limited”.

The summit recognized that there is need for the OECS countries to revise their Cooperative Act, Regulations and By-laws in a harmonized manner. This would ensure that the Credit Union is better equipped to address the challenges and exploit opportunities provided by the changing financial landscape. {{more}}To this end the secretariat was asked to explore opportunities for technical and financial assistance to assist in this process. The meeting agreed that a fully consultative and participatory process with the inclusion of all stakeholders should be pursued. The Antigua and Barbuda Co-operative Credit Union League undertook to be the lead agency to achieve the realization of this objective within a nine-month period.

The meeting received and accepted the report and recommendations for the implementation of money transfer, debit card and related services. To achieve this objective, it was agreed that a sub-regional committee chaired by Montserrat would spearhead this effort. A detailed project implementation plan would be presented by July 2006.

The high point of the summit was the acceptance in principle of the proposal to establish a permanent legal entity called the East Caribbean Co-operative Central Limited (ECCCL) which would be responsible for promoting and advancing the interest of the cooperative sector in the OECS countries and ensure its sustainability. The ECCCL will become operational not later than December 31, 2006.