Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture

Agriculture

IICA prepares to celebrate its 70th anniversary

Tiempo de lectura: 3 mins.

Participating in the ceremony will be the President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, and the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, Ertharin Cousin.

 

The ceremony will take place at the National Theater of Costa Rica, the country where the Institute has its Headquarters.

San Jose, Costa Rica. October 2, 2012 (IICA). It is 70 years since the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) was founded to provide technical cooperation to the agricultural sector and rural territories of the Americas. A ceremony to commemorate this milestone will be held on October 8, and participants will include the President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, and the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin.

“We shall celebrate this important anniversary with pride and in the firm belief that a promising future awaits us. One might think that a 70-year-old organization would be showing signs of aging, but our organization has never been so relevant and has renewed mandates,” affirmed the Director General of IICA, Víctor M. Villalobos.

The ceremony will take place at the National Theater of Costa Rica, the country where the Institute has its Headquarters and on whose soil, in the town of Turrialba, its foundations were laid on October 7, 1942.

The keynote speaker, Ms. Cousin, is, according to Forbes magazine, one of the 100 most influential women in the world. She joined the WFP as its Executive Director in 2012, the latest chapter in a highly successful international career.

President Barack Obama appointed her U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations agencies responsible for food and agriculture and Chief of the United States Mission to the United Nations agencies in Rome, positions that require Senate approval.

IICA has issued invitations to the ceremony at the National Theater to members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Costa Rica, delegates of international organizations, national officials, and its own personnel.

Activities held throughout the hemisphere

Although the hemispheric-level celebration will take place on October 8 in Costa Rica, during the course of this year activities have been held to mark the 70th anniversary in IICA’s 34 Member States.

In recent months, IICA’s Director General has visited a number of countries in the Americas to take part in their commemorative activities.

“The Institute’s 70th anniversary is a cause for celebration and, at the same time, for reflection. For that reason, we have been meeting with our partners throughout the hemisphere to discuss our current cooperation, the achievements and the challenges that lie ahead, and the direction it should take in the future. Our goal is to promote more sustainable and competitive agriculture, and re-position the sector as an engine for economic development,” Villalobos remarked.

For more information, contact: 
evangelina.beltran@iica.int

 

Share

Related news​

El presidente de la Bolsa de Cereales de Buenos Aires, Argentina, Ricardo Marra, durante su participación en el diálogo hemisférico Experiencias transformadoras y escalables para una nueva generación de políticas públicas para los sistemas agroalimentarios.

San José, Costa Rica

October 10, 2025

At IICA Headquarters in Costa Rica, Ricardo Marra, President of the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, calls for all stakeholders to be involved in the construction of sustainable agrifood policies in order to produce better

He emphasized the importance of the issue during the hemispheric dialogue, “Transformative and scalable experiences for a new generation of public policies for agrifood systems”

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

San José, Costa Rica

October 10, 2025

Experts from international organizations, attending a meeting at IICA, argued that the challenging global environment calls for a new generation of public policies for agrifood systems

Various experts from international organizations attending a meeting at the Headquarters of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) agreed that the challenging global environment of geopolitical changes, extreme weather phenomena and ecological transformations calls for the development of a new generation of public policies for agrifood systems.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

México

October 8, 2025

Gisela Illescas Palma, a rural leader enamored with the countryside and a promoter of sustainable development and a unique coffee brand, is named an IICA Leader of Rurality of the Americas

Illescas stands out for her work aimed at driving the development of dozens of farming families in her region, her efforts to defend rural women’s rights, and her passion for the land and coffee, which serves as an inspiration for others.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins