IICA Heritage

Between 1993 and 2001, IICA’s technical cooperation emphasized participation, decentralization and flexibility, focusing on a specific group of topics. In June 2000, the OAS made IICA’s governing body, the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA), the primary ministerial forum in the hemisphere for issues related to agriculture and rural life.

The Heads of State and Government of the countries of the Americas subsequently ratified the OAS General Assembly’s decision at the Third Summit of the Americas. On that occasion, they instructed the ministers and secretaries of agriculture to “promote joint action by all the actors of the agricultural sector to work towards the improvement of agricultural and rural life that enables the implementation of the Plans of Action of the Summits of the Americas,” at the IABA meeting scheduled for November 2001, and in cooperation with IICA.

The new dimension given to the IABA adds to its role as the governing body of IICA, by giving it responsibility as the highest-level ministerial meeting of the hemisphere supporting the definition and implementation of actions to promote the sustainable improvement of agriculture and rural life, in the context of the Summits of the Americas. Since IICA was created, agriculture in the Americas has been strengthened through hemispheric cooperation.

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