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Zaragoza, 21 February 2023 – Following the inauguration of the IOC’s Garden of Peace last December, and at the invitation of the Mayor of Zaragoza, Jorge Azcón; the Director of the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza (IAMZ), Raúl Compés; and the president of the Garden of Peace association, Francesco Serafini, two IOC officials – María Juárez, Acting Head of the Economy and Promotion Unit, and Andoni Olano, Head of the External Relations Department – took part in the inauguration of a new garden of olive trees in the grounds of the Aljafería Palace, an emblematic site in this city declared an ‘Emblematic Site for the Culture of Peace’ by UNESCO.
In their speeches, the Head of Public Services and Mobility of the City of Zaragoza, Natalia Chueca; the Director of the IAMZ; the Secretary General of the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), Placido Plaza; and the President of The Garden of Peace called for the strengthening of cooperation between the different gardens in order to organise activities and promote peace, tolerance and respect between cultures through the olive tree, a universal symbol of Mediterranean identity and brotherhood. The mayor of Zaragoza gave the closing speech before the planting of the olive trees in this new garden, which consists of 22 Mediterranean varieties from the World Bank of olive germplasm of Cordoba.
