Rural vacant house improvement project, promoting cooperative participation **Translation:** Rural vacant house improvement project, promoting cooperative participation

The implementation agency of the vacant house utilization homestay business "Improvement" including social cooperatives A system improvement is being pushed to allow social cooperatives to participate in rural vacant house improvement projects, and policies to foster rural living service communities for housing and care based on cooperatives are being implemented. The plan is to expand the role of cooperatives in responding to regional extinction and restoring communities. The Ministry of Planning and Finance reported the "Fifth Cooperative Basic Plan (2026-2028)" at a cabinet meeting on the 6th and announced a mid- to long-term strategy to foster cooperatives as the core subject for solving regional community problems. This plan is being driven with the vision of "Cooperatives that smile in the field, symbiotic growth of the region and the cooperative" and focuses on the five strategies of "S.M.I.L.E": strengthening competitiveness (Scale up), expanding cooperation and solidarity ...