Jose Sette, director, ICO, has teered the organization through many challenges – including the US withdrawal in 2018. Sette retires in early 2022 and the search for a replacement has started.
The government of Brazil, the world’s largest producing nation wrote to International Coffee Organization (ICO) urging it to do everything in its power to get the US and China to join the UN body.
The US was previously a member of ICO but decided to leave during the previous US administration. The state department confirmed that it would do so in 2018. The US was also a member of ICO at an earlier date. The 2018 US withdrawal was a major blow to ICO creating a significant hole in its finances. There are hopes that the current Biden administration will be much more open to participation in UN bodies such as ICO. As previously highlighted by STiR, ICO has courted China as a member for many years, during which consumption there has grown significantly. China also produces a growing amount of coffee.
In an April 14, 2021 letter seen by STiR, the Brazilian government asks that its request be circulated to members of the organization. In the letter, the Brazilian government said, “Taking into consideration the importance of the American and the Chinese markets to the coffee sector, Brazil would like to suggest that the US and the People’s Republic of China receive special attention from the [ICO] secretariat in its efforts to increase the number of members.”
The letter went on, “The current process of modernization of ICO is undergoing. With a new agreement in sight, the possibility of a further and much closer interaction with the international private sector, and the creation of the coffee public-private task force, with all the work that it encompasses, especially in regard to the question of sustainability, suggests that our organization needs to urgently engage these two largest economies in the world in the process. Having that in mind, Brazil would like to request the secretariat to intensify its contacts with representatives of both countries, on order to secure their membership to ICO.”
In other important news from ICO, the organization initiated a search for a new executive director to replace José Sette, whose five-year term comes to an end in early 2022. Sette was appointed by the International Coffee Council in March 2017 having earlier been head of operations at the UN coffee body. His five-year term at ICO comes to an end in March 2022. Member governments are now to forward names of endorsed candidates to the ICO secretariat no later than July 30 this year. The ICO Council is due to consider and decide on the appointment of a new executive director at a council session from March 28-April 1, 2022.