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The 119th session of the IOC’s Council of Members is starting today, Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
Representatives of the 20 IOC member countries (Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt, Georgia, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Montenegro, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, the European Union and Uruguay) will take part this week in the meetings of the various specialized committees and the plenary session scheduled for June 25. Representatives from Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Qatar, South Africa, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Arab League, Mercosur, the Gulf Economic Council and the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI), have been invited to attend this IOC session as observers, as has the Republic of San Marino, which will officially present its application to join the International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives.
The first part of the session will take place from June 11 to 13 by videoconference from Madrid.
The Administrative and Financial Affairs Committee will meet on June 11 and 13 to deal with the usual issues concerning the IOC budget, member contributions, human resources and other matters of interest.
On June 11, the Executive Secretariat will inform the Economic and Promotion Committee of developments in olive oil and table olive production, consumption and trade, as well as the latest results of the consumer behavior study. In the field of promotion, the Committee will be informed of the activities that have taken place as part of the IOC campaign in Australia and Brazil, future activities planned in various countries, and the IOC’s forthcoming call for grants for national promotion activities, in particular for the organization of World Olive Day. The Executive Secretariat will also inform the Committee of the activities of the Observatory and Information Systems Department and its plans for the rest of the year.
The Chemistry and Standardization Committee will meet in the morning of Thursday June 12. The Executive Secretariat will present a progress report on activities carried out since the last meeting, including the results of work carried out by expert groups in various fields, ongoing studies on non-standard parameters such as sterols, MOSH and MOAH, ring tests, international standardization work (CODEX, ISO, WCO, WTO, EU….), proposals for the revision of methods of analysis, the IOC’s Mario Solinas Quality Awards in the northern and southern hemispheres, IOC patronage of tasting courses and competitions organized by the relevant authorities, recognition of physico-chemical analysis laboratories and tasting panels, collaboration with the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), the Olive Health Information System (OHIS), collaboration with the Fundación del Olivar through the IOC-Panel platform in order to harmonize tasting panels and minimize discrepancies, and follow-up work on the self-monitoring of oils sold on the markets of non-member importing countries.
In the afternoon, the Executive Secretariat will brief the Committee on Technology and the Environment on activities organized in the fields of research, development and training, in particular progress on the World Catalogue of Olive Varieties, work on the carbon balance of the olive sector and recognition of carbon credits, and the project to update the World Encyclopedia of the Olive Tree. Also on the agenda will be IOC scholarships for students from member countries taking part in specialized courses or PhDs, and the international seminar on sustainable development in olive growing scheduled for September 2024 at the Olive Center of the University of California at Davis. The Executive Secretariat will present a proposal for pursuing current programs and launching new activities in the second half of 2024.
The members will meet at the plenary session on Tuesday June 25 to adopt the committee reports and proposed decisions.
