`IOC Celebrates 60th Anniversary and World Olive Day - Olive Oil Times

IOC Celebrates 60th Anniversary and World Olive Day

By Ylenia Granitto
Dec. 19, 2019 11:05 UTC

The International Olive Council (IOC) cel­e­brated 60 years with an event held at the IOC head­quar­ters in Madrid in con­junc­tion with the 110th ses­sion of the Council of Members.

The cer­e­mony, which was also the occa­sion to honor the UNESCO’s offi­cial procla­ma­tion of November 26 as World Olive Day, was attended by rep­re­sen­ta­tives of gov­ern­ments, diplo­matic corps, and del­e­ga­tions from the Member States.

In his intro­duc­tory speech, the IOC exec­u­tive direc­tor, Abdellatif Ghedira pre­sented an insti­tu­tional film, a cel­e­bra­tory logo cre­ated for the occa­sion and the 60th-anniver­sary issue the Organization’s offi­cial jour­nal, Olivæ.

Ghedira stated that coun­tries which join the IOC by adher­ing to the new International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives are sup­port­ing the olive sec­tor and sus­tain­able eco­nomic and social devel­op­ment.”

During the cer­e­mony, the IOC signed agree­ments with the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food estab­lish­ing the rela­tion­ship between the two insti­tu­tions, and with the Santander Foundation for sus­tain­able col­lab­o­ra­tion and syn­ergy in train­ing, research, and events.

The Executive Secretariat paid a trib­ute to rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the inter­na­tional olive sec­tor who have dis­tin­guished them­selves for their work in pro­mot­ing olive oil through­out the world, includ­ing Luis Planas, the Spanish Minister of Agriculture; Ezeldine Abusteit, for­mer Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of Egypt and cur­rent chair of the IOC; Pierre Bonnet, a pio­neer in the inter­na­tional olive sec­tor and first IOC Executive Director; Loriana Abbruzzetti, chair of Pandolea, an asso­ci­a­tion of women pro­mot­ing the cul­ture of extra vir­gin olive oil; Luis Rallo, pro­fes­sor emer­i­tus at the University of Cordoba, who has ded­i­cated his life to research and devel­op­ment in the olive sec­tor; and Nehayah Shaher Mustafa Almuhisen, an agron­o­mist who has devoted his career to the study of the olive tree and to the devel­op­ment of the olive sec­tor in his coun­try, Jordan.

At the end of the event, the flag of Georgia was raised to honor its recent acces­sion to the IOC.


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