DOHA, November 6, 2025 — The International Cooperative Alliance [ICA] has concluded a high-level round table discussion on “Strengthening the Three Pillars of Social Development: Poverty Eradication, Full and Productive Employment and Decent Work for All, and Social Inclusion” during the United Nations Second World Summit for Social Development, held in Doha, Qatar.
The round table, chaired by the Presidents of Montenegro and Kyrgyzstan, brought together more than 40 Heads of State and Government, 170 ministerial representatives, leaders of international organisations, youth delegates, and members of civil society. In total, over 14,000 participants from around the world attended the Summit, which aims to reaffirm global commitments to social development and accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Representing the cooperative movement’s one billion members worldwide, ICA President Ariel Guarco delivered the concluding address. In his remarks, he underscored the vital role of cooperatives in advancing the three pillars of social development and highlighted the significance of 2025, declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Cooperatives [IYC2025] under the theme “Cooperatives Build a Better World.”
“When we talk about eradicating poverty, we are talking about a monumental task,” said Guarco. “More than one billion brothers and sisters live in this condition, surviving in precarious environments that directly impact their health and life expectancy. Reversing this situation requires more than assistance—it demands that we confront the systems that perpetuate exclusion.”
He stressed that decent work is the most effective vehicle to rebuild the social and productive fabric fractured across the globe, adding that cooperatives are uniquely positioned to lead this transformation.
“Cooperatives are not merely companies practising social responsibility—they are social responsibility made into a business,” Guarco continued. “Our model not only includes those who have been marginalised but prevents their marginalisation in the first place. We believe in a new global economy where communities can develop autonomously and democratically, cooperating with one another as the path toward a just, sustainable, and peaceful world.”
Earlier in the day, the International Year of Cooperatives 2025 was officially closed as part of the Summit’s programme. Member States adopted a political declaration recognising cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy as key drivers of sustainable development, with particular contributions to SDG 8 [Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 1 [No Poverty]—the two central themes of the Summit.
The declaration builds on the UN Secretary-General’s 2025 Report on Cooperatives in Social Development, which calls for stronger national and international policies to support cooperative growth and integration into sustainable development frameworks.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who attended the Summit, emphasised that the Second World Summit for Social Development seeks to renew global commitment to poverty eradication, full employment, and social inclusion—revisiting and revitalising the 10 Commitments of the 1995 Copenhagen Summit.
By reaffirming the cooperative movement’s place at the heart of social progress, the ICA’s participation in the Doha Summit highlights the enduring importance of collective action, solidarity, and people-centred enterprise in building a more equitable and sustainable global economy.
https://thecooperator.news/building-a-better-world-un-world-social-summit-celebrates-iyc2025/
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