IICA prepares to celebrate its 70th anniversary
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