The executive president of the Puerto Rico Public Corporation for the Supervision and Insurance of Cooperatives (COSSEC), Mabel Jiménez Miranda, announced on Monday the signing of a collaborative agreement with the Institute for Cooperative Development and Credit (IDECOOP) that will facilitate the establishment of educational strategies to promote cooperative development in the Dominican Republic.
The head of COSSEC mentioned in her welcome speech that, “a few weeks ago we established communication with Opinio Diaz, Consul General of the Dominican Republic in Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands to make feasible the possibility of establishing collaboration agreements with IDECOOP and I am pleased to formalize this agreement that makes us part of the development of educational seminars and establishes direct communication channels between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic”.
For his part, the Consul General of the Dominican Republic expressed that, “the signing of this agreement strengthens the cooperative sector in the Dominican Republic and opens a window of opportunity to work with initiatives that empower the diaspora and result in mutual benefit between both countries. Making visible the establishment of collaboration agreements is the basis of the Bilateral Joint Commission, both this servant and Ambassador Miguel Cabral, we are in the best disposition to continue working to forge projects that impact both peoples and as provided in the Joint Declaration between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. I appreciate the openness and willingness of Mrs. Mabel Jimenez, president of COSSEC to achieve this success, we are making history”.
Meanwhile, the president administrator of IDECOOP, Franco de los Santos said that, “we have finalized this historic collaboration agreement that began in December 2021 between the governor of Puerto Rico and the president of the Dominican Republic. The Dominican government headed by President Luis Abinader recognizes the historical support and solidarity of the people of Puerto Rico in welcoming dozens of our brothers and sisters who have migrated to this beautiful land. The agreement, also without historical precedent, seeks mutual collaboration in the development and strengthening of the cooperative system of the Republic and Puerto Rico; in terms of exchange of experiences, education and cooperative training, technology and exchange of information and experiences on our legal regulations”.
“This exchange with COSSEC, the regulator of the cooperative sector of the island will serve to effectively integrate and strengthen the relations of both countries and logically a big step to further enhance the cooperative movement of the two sister countries. In addition, with this agreement we will try to prevent the cooperative system of the Dominican Republic from being affected by the phenomenon of money laundering and financing of terrorism and others within the scope of our competence. At present, we have revolutionized and promoted the institution (IDECOOP) and we have 828 supervised and audited cooperatives,” said the president-administrator.
Likewise, Jiménez Miranda assured that another of the main objectives will be to contribute in the identification of signals, issues and topics that affect the Cooperatives in the Dominican Republic. “COSSEC will exchange information with IDECOOP and we will coordinate efforts for the regulation of compliance issues. At the same time, we will provide collaboration in cooperative technical aspects in order to optimize the supervision of cooperatives,” added the official.
The signing of this collaborative agreement took place on Friday, June 10, following a workshop offered by the Public Corporation together with the Commission for Cooperative Development, Investment Funds and Cooperative Development (FIDECOOP), BanCoop, the Cooperative Circuit, IDECOOP, and the Consul of the Dominican Republic.
