United Nations' Resolution 56/114 adopted by the UN General Assembly on 19 December 2001 drew attention of Member States to the draft guidelines aimed at creating a supportive environment for the development of co-operatives to be considered by them in developing or revising their national policies on co-operatives. The UN's guidelines aim to create a supportive environment for the development of co-operatives. The revised guidelines encouraged member governments to: "keep under review, as appropriate, the legal and administrative provisions governing the activities of co-operatives, with a view to ensuring a supportive environment for them and to protecting and advancing the potential of co-operatives to help them achieve their goals" .4

The UN guidelines on creating of a supportive environment for co-operatives is clear in stating that: "the International Co-operative Alliance Statement on the Co-operative Identity should be taken as the base and operationalised in terms of co-operatives position in the context of the marketplace as distinctive from other forms of business enterprise" .5 This is an unequivocal endorsement of the status of co-operatives as autonomous, jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprises.

The UN's view on creating a supportive environment for co-operatives urges: "the State and cooperatives to strike a successful and effective partnerships. While too much State control is bad, no State involvement can be equally unhelpful and short-sighted. In general:

• Government should not support cooperatives just because they are cooperatives, but because of what they do and how well they do it, alongside other businesses and enterprises, on a competitive basis.

• Cooperatives should not be used as an instrument of the State and must be able to act autonomously;

• Policies should move cooperatives away from dependency on the State; Cooperatives should not be promoted as instruments of government policies or technical aid programs, as conduits for subsided loans or scarce commodities, as forums for political indoctrination of the people, as a means to formalise the informal economy or as agents for helping the poor. Experience shows that cooperatives contribute best to society when they are true to their values and principles" .6