Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In Madrid, Uzbek diplomats discussed with the Executive Director of the International Olive Council (IOC) Abdellatif Khedira the issue of organizing a solemn ceremony of raising the flag of Uzbekistan at the IOC headquarters in the Spanish capital.

The IOC Secretariat put forward a proposal to hold a solemn ceremony of the official raising of the flag of Uzbekistan on 1 December 2022, taking into account the upcoming meeting of the IOC General Assembly on 28-31 November 2022.

Also, the admission of Uzbekistan as a full member of the IOC will be officially announced in June 2022 at the plenary meeting of the IOC member countries in the Jordanian city of Amman.

In August 2021, the President signed the law "On the accession of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives (Geneva, on 9 October 2015)".

On 31 August 2021, Uzbekistan became a full member of the IOC. The organization was established in 1959 on the basis of the 1956 international agreement on olive oil. The founders were 11 countries of Europe and Africa: Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Great Britain, Israel, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia.

Today, the IOC brings together about 80 percent of the producers and 98 percent of the exporters of olive oil and olives. 45 countries are members of the IOC.

Membership in the International Olive Oil Council does not incur any annual financial costs.