LONDON – The 112th Session of the International Coffee Council and other ICO meetings are in full swing in London and will last until Friday. All meetings are taking place at the headquarters of the Organization. The first plenary Session of the Council was held on Monday, 3 March.
The Agenda of the International Coffee Council includes, among others, the following subjects:
- Membership of the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) 2007;
- Annual Review 2012/13;
- Coffee market situation;
- Studies and reports – As provided for in the Programme of Activities for 2013/14, the Council will consider the following studies: World Coffee Outlook; Coffee in the Asian region;
- 4th World Coffee Conference;
- Strategic Action Plan;
- Draft Programme of Activities for 2014/15;
- International Coffee Day;
- World Coffee Conference – The Council shall appoint the Chairman of the World Coffee Conference, and decide on the form, title, subject matter and timing of the Conference, in consultation with the Private Sector Consultative Board. The Council will consider submissions received by 31 December 2013 from Members (Colombia, Ethiopia, Italy) interested in hosting the 4th Conference.
- Consultative Forum on Coffee Sector Finance;
- Projects for approval by the Council – The Council will consider the recommendations of the Projects Committee on revised and new project proposals including: Valorization of the Ethiopian coffee origins for marketing;
- The Council will also review the activities of the Private Sector Consultative Board, the Promotion and Market Development Committee, Statistics Committee and the Projects Committee.
Seminar on achieving sustainable supply in the coffee market
The ICO held a seminar on 4 March on achieving sustainable supply in the coffee market, chaired by Mr Conradin Rasi of Switzerland.
The seminar addressed issues and themes such as the supply-demand balance in the global market, the new trends in production and consumption, volatility and currency fluctuations, emerging producing countries
Paperless meetings
In order to reduce costs for the Organization as efficiently as possible, and as recommended by the Council, the ICO is moving towards a zero paper system for meetings.
Members are encouraged to bring their tablets or notebooks to the meetings they are involved in, rather than using hard copies of documents.
