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They celebrated the event live from the IOC headquarters
The 16th edition of “QOCO, a trickle of extra virgin olive oil in the plate”, was presented at the IOC headquarters in Madrid on Friday 9 February. The ceremony gave the world’s olive-growing community – from Uruguay and Argentina in the West, to Japan in the East, and including Iran, which holds the presidency of the IOC Council of Members in 2024 – the opportunity to follow the proceedings live.
QOCO, whose objective is to bring together the experiences and cross-cultural influences of young Euro-Mediterranean chefs, is a competition of the highest level where the only winner is the quality of extra virgin olive oil. The 16th edition of Qoco will take place in Andria (Puglia, Italy) from 22 to 24 March 2024.
QOCO enjoys, since last year, the institutional patronage of the IOC. This year, the Council of the City-Province of Andria wanted to return the institutional courtesy of the IOC by paying homage to the highest intergovernmental olive-growing institute in the world by presenting the varnishing of the 16th edition of QOCO directly at its headquarters in Madrid.
“We are honoured to receive this certificate of esteem and recognition from the City-Province of Andria led by the Mayor Giovanna Bruno, the Councillor for Productive Activities, Cesare Troia, accompanied by the President of the Italian Oil Cities Association, Michele Sonnessa”, reported Jaime Lillo Lopez, Executive Director of the IOC. “We are convinced,” he added, “that this proximity of QOCO’s organisers to the goals of the Executive Secretariat is in line with the objectives in the IOC’s International Agreement”.
The Executive Director also recalled that the IOC website dedicates an entire section to Mediterranean cuisine under the heading ‘culinary’, all to be discovered and enjoyed to enhance the health properties of this noble product.
The Mayor of the City-Province of Andria, Giovanna Bruno, emphasised in her message of greeting that she fully shared the invitation of the Executive Director of the IOC, Jaime Lillo Lopez, expressing her desire to intensify collaboration between the two institutions. “Great minds think alike”, added Mayor Giovanna Bruno. “Our objective is to push our collaboration towards excellence in order to support the objectives of the IOC’s International Agreement by giving our companies producing high quality extra virgin olive oils all the opportunities that the agreement can offer them.”
The Executive Director, Jaime Lillo Lopez, received the Italian delegation with the Head of the Standardisation and Research Unit, Dr. Mercedes Fernandez, who provided the visiting delegation with an overview of the activities carried out by the Executive Secretariat.
