First Board of Directors of the Inter-American Commission for Organic Agriculture (ICOA) elected

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The newly elected Board of Directors of the Inter-American Commission for Organic Agriculture (ICOA).

First Board of Directors of the Inter-American Commission for Organic Agriculture (ICOA) elected

The Board was elected by representatives of 15 countries of the Americas.

The first Assembly of the Inter-American Commission for Organic Agriculture (ICOA), which was held from November 16 to 20 at the Headquarters of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), in Costa Rica, elected its first Board of Directors and set guidelines and policies for its operation.

The meeting was attended by delegations from 15 countries of the Americas, represented by the competent authorities in organic agriculture, who are responsible for interpreting and applying the rules and regulations that govern organic agriculture and its control systems in each country.

The Board of Directors of the ICOA comprises Juan Carlos Ramirez, from Argentina, as President, Elizabeth Ramirez, from Costa Rica, and Rogerio Dias, from Brazil, as members. Octavio Carrianza, from Mexico, is part of the Board because his country will host the next Assembly.

According to the Technical Secretary a.i. of ICOA, Pedro Cussianovich, in addition to having the opportunity to elect its first Board, important technical issues were discussed regarding the actions of organic agriculture in the Americas.

The delegations discussed the development of local and national markets for organic products, public certification and the certification of non-food organic products.

They also discussed the safety of organic foods, progress in the harmonization of rules and regulations for organic production among countries, and the authorization and registration of permissible inputs for organic production.

Policies on organic agriculture strengthened

During the Assembly, it was agreed to develop and implement mechanisms that will make it possible to operate a system for the management of information and knowledge. Another agreement reached was to generate a strategy for the institutional strengthening and development of competent authorities in the countries.

The Commission decided to create a Committee on Codex Alimentarius to disseminate information on organic agriculture and adopt joint positions on topics of interest related to the actions of the competent authorities.

The ICOA is an inter-American technical body created by the ministers of agriculture of the hemisphere, whose goals are to promote the development of organic agriculture, facilitate trade of organic produce and strengthen the institutional framework in the sector.

This Commission coordinates and promotes the development and harmonization of rules on the production and control of organic products and serves as a body from consultation, liaison and cooperation among the countries of the Americas. It is the first regional body to deal directly with organic agriculture. IICA serves as the Technical Secretariat of the Commission by mandate from the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA), the governing body of the Institute.

For further information
pedro.cussianovich@iica.int

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