Madrid, Spain—Saudi Arabia has joined the International Olive Council (IOC), a UN affiliated intergovernmental organization aimed at developing and expanding olives and olive oil trade.
The Council also encourages the member countries to 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.
A ceremony was held at the Council’s headquarters in Madrid, where Saudi Arabia’s 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.
Olive farming
According to Saudi authorities, olive trees were planted in Al Jouf in northern parts of the kingdom, in 2007. By 2018, nearly 52,000 acres of olive groves were planted and Al Jouf currently has the world’s largest modern olive farm. With more than 5 million olive trees, the Al Jouf Agricultural Development Company produces about 15,000 tons of olive oil per year.
The company’s director, Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Al Hussein, says Al Jouf Agricultural Development Company is the largest plant producing olive oil in the Middle East. (It’s also working on pickled olives and body-care products, he says.)
Soon, the country will also be home to the largest olive mill. The National Agricultural Development Company, the Middle East’s largest ecological olive oil producer, and Spain’s Grupo GEA agreed in March 2019 to build Asia’s largest olive mill in Al Jouf. Research projects are already underway at Al Jouf University in the kingdom and at the University of Jaén in Spain.
