The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has joined the International Olive Council (IOC), where a ceremony was held on this occasion at the Council's headquarters in Madrid, Spain, attended by the Saudi Ambassador to Spain, Azzam bin Abdul Karim Al-Qain, and the Executive Director of IOC, Abdellatif Ghedira. During the ceremony, Ambassador Al-Qain raised the Saudi flag at the IOC headquarters on this occasion and planted an olive tree in the Peace Garden of the Council. The ceremony was attended by several senior officials, including the Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, the Jordanian Minister of Agriculture, the President of IOC, Khaled Hanifat, the Tunisian Minister of Agriculture, Mahmoud Elias Hamza, and several ambassadors of the member states of the Council. The International Olive Council is a United Nation affiliated intergovernmental organization, and it includes many countries around the world to encourage the expansion of international trade in olive oil and olives, develop and modernize commercial standards for products and improve their quality, and enhance international technical cooperation in research and development projects, training and technology transfer.
