Agriculture: Sisi ratified Egypt’s joining International Olive Oil Agreement

Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Abdel Moniem el Bana said Monday President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has ratified Egypt’s joining the International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives.

In a statement released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation on Monday, the minister said President Sisi issued a decree No.560 of 2017 approving Egypt’s joining the International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives, which has been approved in Geneva in October 2015.

He said the House of Representatives approved Egypt’s joining the agreement in its public session held on January 8.

The minister asserted that Egypt’s joining the agreement is an important step as Egypt ranks second as the biggest producer of olive oil worldwide, adding that Egypt was also a founder of the International Olive Council (IOC) which sponsors the implementation of the agreement.

The agreement aims at fostering international cooperation for the integrated, sustainable development of world olive growing; to foster the coordination of production, industrialization, storage and marketing policies for olive oils, olive-pomace oils and table olives, to encourage research and development and to foster the transfer of technology and training activities in the olive products sector, he said.

The agreement provides international protection for the geographical indications agreed on by members, thereby filling a gap in the previous text of the agreement issued in 2005. It also puts relationships with professionals on an institutional footing and provides for international cooperation with representatives of the olive-products sector.

Moreover, the IOC, which includes countries producing around 98 percent of the olive oil production worldwide, is given the task of organizing the transfer of technology from members that are highly advanced in olive cultivation, olive oil extraction and table olive processing techniques to the developing countries that are members of the Council.

The new agreement is also aimed at improving the quality of the sector’s products and is intended to back up the advertising campaigns on the properties and benefits of olive oil and table olives – that is, their organoleptic and chemical characteristics and their nutritional and therapeutic properties. (MENA)