Abdellatif Ghedira will be the new executive director of International Olive Council (IOC). The assignment was decided at the recent 103rd session, held in Madrid on November 23 – 26.
The Council of Members decided to nominate Abdellatif Ghedira, of Tunisian nationality, who was selected among a group of applicants including Moroccan and Spanish candidates.
Ghedira, now the director of the Tunisian National Oil Office, will succeed the current IOC executive, director Jean-Louis Barjol, as the head of the intergovernmental organisation from January 1, 2016 until December 31, 2019 in a mandate that will lasts four years.
Born in Monastir in 1962, and a graduate in agricultural engineering and water and forestry management, with a post-graduate degree (DEA) in geography, Ghedira is a leading international expert in the field and is considered a competent and appropriate person for an important and central role in the future of the world olive sector.
In addition to having represented his country as the head of the Tunisian delegation at IOC sessions, he has held the function of chief of staff of the former Minister of Agriculture, Lassaad Lachaal and held several positions within the Ministry, including general director of the Office of State Lands and general director of APIA, the National Agency for the Promotion of Agricultural Investments.
According to the IOC regulation, Ghedira will be assisted by the current deputy director, Ammar Assabah, until April 30, 2016, and then by two new deputy directors who will be appointed at the 25th extraordinary session of the IOC, that will be held at IOC headquarters March 7 – 10, 2016.
The current Tunisian prime Minister, Habib Essid, occupied the same executive position at the IOC from 2004 until 2010, making a decisive contribution to refinance and give new energy the organization. Now, six years later, a Tunisian returns to serve the important function.
After the addition of 35,000 tons per year in privileged exports to the European Union without duties until 2017, and becoming for the first time the world’s second-largest olive oil producer, the North African country will have a countryman at the helm of the International Oil Council.
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