Haiti's national consortium of the cooperative sector, COSECOH, called on Tuesday, November 3, for the creation of a ministry dedicated to cooperatives, Vant Bèf Info reported.

At a press conference in Port-au-Prince, COSECOH representative Eslhomme Raymond accused the authorities of “five years of marginalization” of the sector, saying cooperatives get too little consideration from the government even though they could help drive economic development.

The consortium wants a ministry to represent, support and promote cooperatives. But its main goal, the outlet said, is to give the sector a voice in public decisions that affect it and to see cooperatives built into public policy.

COSECOH urged the government to move “from statements to action.” The report gave no figures on the number of cooperatives or members, and no government response had been reported.