KUWAIT CITY, Aug 11: The Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies (UCCS) Monday held a joint meeting to present the initial vision of the union’s online platform, which is an important national project prepared by UCCS in coordination with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Social Affairs, and with the cooperation of the company called “Business Concept”, which is one of market leaders in the field of information technology and software solutions in Kuwait, reports Al-Rai daily.

The meeting was attended by UCCS officials and representatives from several concerned bodies led by the UCCS Chairman Fahad Al-Kashti, who applauded the online platform as it represents the first phase of the project, which includes the app and the website in addition to the supporting programs that will allow users to monitor prices instantly. Among the objectives of this platform are portals linking UCCS and the suppliers as well as UCCS and cooperative societies, price monitoring portal for the UCCS, and an interface for the consumers.

The platform will also allow stock and financial management, human resources, sales, and media content control. Al-Kashti explained that the platform is already being operated by employees and supervisors. All prices have been added to the application so that supervisors can verify the correct prices in all cooperative societies in Kuwait.

The union is currently preparing for the second phase of the project, which is to update the system in order to enable consumers to monitor prices in cooperative societies. He stressed that such national projects are of interest to the public, and are important to strengthen the efforts of state agencies to activate the role of cooperative societies in the necessary oversight, to control violations and refer them to legal authorities, and to provide a more transparent commercial environment.

Al-Kashti indicated about a follow up with the heads of cooperative societies to explain the work mechanism of the UCCS e-platform, and discuss all opinions and proposals of the heads of cooperative societies. Others present at the meeting were the Assistant Undersecretary for the Cooperative Sector at the Ministry of Social Affairs Salem Al-Rashidi, Assistant Undersecretary for Technical Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Muhammad Al-Enezi, and Assistant Undersecretary for Supervision and Consumer Protection Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Eid Al-Rasheedi.

From USSC, Treasurer Khaled Hamid Al-Mutairi, Chairman of the Financial and Administrative Committee Muhammad Raghian Al- Azmi, Chairman of the Media and Public Relations Committee Salah Salman Al-Azmi, Chairman of the Group Import and Purchase Committee, and Chairman of the Price Follow-up and Control Committee, Abdullah Abdul-Redha Hassan were present at the meeting.