United Nations (EFE).- The UN General Assembly approved a resolution promoted by Spain in which it encourages the promotion of the so-called “social and solidarity economy”, a concept that includes cooperatives, foundations and other companies that pursue the general interest and social goals.
The text, the first on this issue to be addressed by the General Assembly, was co-sponsored by more than forty countries and was adopted by acclamation.
“The social economy is our now and our tomorrow, since it proposes an inclusive economic model with social objectives, based on internal solidarity and with people at the center,” said Yolanda Díaz, the second vice president and Minister of Labor and Social Economy. from Spain.
Díaz, who traveled to New York to present this resolution to the General Assembly, assured that the Spanish experiences with the social economy “have shown that it is possible to overcome a ruthless, soulless economic system that is based on cuts, forgetting the most vulnerable people and that is anchored in inequality”.
In this sense, he recalled that in Spain the social economy represents 10% of the Gross Domestic Product, with a “solid business fabric” that adapts to changes and allows workers to participate in business decisions and access property. of the productive means.
“The social economy has managed to deny the cliché that the economic development of a country must inevitably sacrifice ideals of justice and equality that, quite the contrary, must be at the core of our political and economic systems,” he insisted.
According to the head of Labor, “advancing in an economy that is more participatory, more democratic, more communal and more resistant to crises allows us to lay the foundations to improve the lives of citizens even when uncertainty threatens us.”
Díaz had already visited the United Nations last July to promote this project, to which dozens of countries eventually joined, and in which States and international organizations are encouraged to “support and promote the social and solidarity economy as a possible model of economic development and socially sustainable.
The text speaks of the social and solidarity economy as a field that includes cooperatives, associations, mutuals, foundations, social enterprises, self-help groups and other entities that operate according to their values and principles.
In his speech, Díaz stressed that the social economy has a “decisive role in the transformation of the world economy towards a sustainable development model” and shows that “things can be done differently.”
“The social economy is not an approximate representation of the future we want, but rather the evidence that it is possible to build that world that is more just, sustainable and caring now, right now”, he pointed out.