NCBA CLUSA CEO Mike Beall to testify during Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on U.S. - Cuba trade

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mike Beall, president and CEO of the National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International, will testify on behalf of NCBA CLUSA members and supporters, and the cooperative movement at large, during a U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the opportunities and challenges surrounding agriculture trade with Cuba. The hearing comes amid a breakthrough in U.S. – Cuba relations.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 21, 2015 @ 10:00 a.m. EDT

WHERE: The Russell Senate Office Building – Room 328A
2 Constitution Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20002

LIVE Webcast @ www.ag.senate.gov

Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry specifically requested Beall's testimony at the hearing. Beall and witnesses from seven other organizations—among them the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce and Treasury and the Department of Agriculture Economics at Texas A & M University—will serve as witnesses, according to an April 14 press release from Chairman Robert's office.

Beall will present the lead testimony on the second panel of the hearing to educate lawmakers on the critical role co-ops play in the U.S. economy and highlight the need to support further cooperative development in Cuba.

NCBA CLUSA was at the leading edge of a historic shift in U.S. – Cuba relations in December 2014. Prior to the Obama Administration's decision to normalize diplomatic relations between the two countries, NCBA CLUSA led a research and education tour of Cuba's emerging co-op sector. As part of economic reforms, Cuba is shifting many of its state-owned farms and businesses into cooperatives.

In early March, NCBA CLUSA formally launched the U.S. – Cuba Cooperative Working Group (USCCWG) at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The USCCWG released a research report on the emerging role co-ops are playing in Cuba's economic reform and how engagement between the U.S. and Cuban cooperative sectors can bolster the movement in both nations.

About NCBA CLUSA
The National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International (NCBA CLUSA) is the oldest not-for-profit cooperative trade association in the United States and an international development organization working in 16 countries in Africa, Latin America, and South East Asia. For nearly 100 years, NCBA CLUSA has highlighted the impact that cooperatives have in bettering the lives of individuals, families, and communities. NCBA CLUSA's international program has a 60-year history of supporting cooperative development in over 100 countries around the world. NCBA CLUSA works in the areas of food security, agricultural development, strengthening of communities and farmer organizations, community-based health, natural resources management, and empowerment of smallholder farmers, women, and youth.

SOURCE National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International

Related Links

http://www.ncba.coop

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