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On 9 September, the IOC Executive Secretariat received a courtesy visit from the new Greek Ambassador to Spain, H.E. Christodoulos Lazaris. Having recently arrived from Egypt, where he represented his country for six years, Mr Lazaris made a point of visiting the headquarters of the International Olive Council, of which his country is a founding member.
Mr Ghedira and Mr Lillo, respectively Executive Director and Deputy Director in charge of economic and technical affairs and promotion, presented the activities that the IOC offers its members, such as the grants made available for the celebration of World Olive Day, the various courses, workshops and meetings regularly organised by the Executive Secretariat, and its programme for the certification of physico-chemical testing laboratories and tasting panels.
Mr Ghedira also acquainted the Ambassador with the considerable changes made to the International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives, in particular in relation to the membership of consumer countries, internal restructuring and review of procedures. In this regard, he indicated that the delegations of member countries would meet on 21 and 22 October to finalise their work on the new IOC implementing rules before the entry into force of the new Agreement, scheduled for 1 January 2017.
The Executive Director spoke about the IOC’s participation in COP22 (Marrakech, November 2016) to present the crucial role of olive growing in mitigating the effects of global warming. Furthermore, he indicated that the IOC member countries would be meeting from 22 to 25 November, for the 104th ordinary session of the Council of Members, following the meetings of the Advisory Committee and Associations Committee on 21 November. The meetings would also bring Members together on 24 November for the celebration of the IOC Mario Solinas Quality Award prize-giving ceremony and World Olive Day.
The new Ambassador of Greece thanked the IOC Executive Director for his welcome and expressed his particular interest in the Organisation.
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