22 April, Bilbao, Spain

Arranged with the help of HBM management Institute, Co-chair of GSEF, Rev. Kyong Yong Song gave a presentation at the Arizmendiarrieta’s Centenary – ‘Towards a Social and Solidarity Economy, Cooperativism of Mondragon and the Third Sector’. Father Arizmendiarrieta is widely acknowledged as the founder of establishing the basis of Mondragon’s cooperativism. Along with government officials from Basque Country, representatives of social economy networks, and universities, Rev. Song introduced the way to strengthening the social and solidarity economy and overcoming challenges in the context of Korea’s experience of developing the SSE eco-system. Through the Centenary and other meetings such as cooperatives, Basque local government councils and social economy networks, GSEF had an opportunity to strengthen its close tie with Mondragon.