Dr. Manuel Otero, the Director General of IICA for the 2018-2022 period

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, January 30, 2018 (IICA).Dr. Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA, during the inauguration ceremonyOn January 15, 2018, Manuel Otero, a veterinarian and citizen of Argentina, sworn as the Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

The inauguration ceremony took place at the Headquarters of IICA, in San José, Costa Rica, with the presence of the President of the Republic of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solís, the Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Ambassador Néstor Méndez; the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of the Republic of Costa Rica, Luis Felipe Arauz; the Secretary of Family Agriculture, Coordination and Territorial Development of the Ministry of Agribusiness of Argentina, Santiago Hardie, among other authorities.

In his speech, Dr. Otero stressed that, given its abundance of natural resources, the American continent has a great opportunity to “become an even more important player in world trade and in the fundamental guarantor of the planet's food and nutritional security.”

Likewise, Dr. Otero highlighted the important role that IICA plays in the agricultural development of the American continent and reaffirmed his commitment to build “a new future for the benefit of the stakeholders and institutions of the agri-food systems of the Americas.”

The new Director General was elected on October 26, 2017 by the 32 heads of delegations of the Ministries of Agriculture of the countries that participated in the XIX Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA), held in San José, Costa Rica.

More information: IICA Dominican Republic Delegation, iica.rd@iica.int