The International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) is an intergovernmental organisation established under the auspices of the United Nations.
Based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the ICCO was established in 1973 to implement the first International Cocoa Agreement, negotiated in Geneva at the United Nations International Cocoa Conference. The ICCO operates in the framework of International Cocoa Agreements, most recently the International Cocoa Agreement of 2010, which entered into force on 1 October 2012.
Members
The ICCO is an international organisation made up of cocoa-producing and cocoa-consuming countries accounting for 85% of the world’s cocoa production and over 60% of the world’s cocoa consumption, respectively. Each Member State is designated as an importer or exporter on the basis of its trade position in the cocoa market.
– There are 23 exporting members which include: Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Congo, Ivory Coast, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Liberia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Sierra Leone, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela;
– There are 29 importing members which include the European Union (representing the 27 EU Member States), Russia and Switzerland.
Mandate
The organisation aims to support the sustainable development of the cocoa sector worldwide by promoting cooperation among Member States and between them and other cocoa stakeholders. The ICCO operates to achieve a cocoa economy aimed at obtaining remunerative prices and higher incomes for farmers; eliminating the exploitation of child labour; making the market transparent by attempting to mitigate price fluctuations; carrying out promotional activities to develop cocoa and chocolate consumption in emerging markets; ensuring product traceability and controlling the use of pesticides and the type of packaging.
Specifically for the period 2019-2024, ICCO members agreed on a five-year strategic action plan with the following priorities:
- cocoa farmers: significantly improving the income and working conditions of cocoa farmers;
- environmental sustainability: Improving the ecological footprint of the cocoa supply chain in the global context of climate change.
- cocoa development: implementing and supporting national cocoa development plans;
- local processing: encouraging local processing and production of cocoa and cocoa-based products in producing countries;
- consumption: promoting the consumption of cocoa-based products, especially in producing countries;
- collaboration: improving policy dialogue and collaboration among all stakeholders in the cocoa supply chain;
- statistics: producing statistical information on production, milling, trade, stocks and prices of cocoa beans and semi-finished products.
Organisational structure
The ICCO has a structure with three basic components: the Council of Members, Committees, the President of the organisation and the Executive Secretariat.
The Council holds two regular sessions per year and, where necessary, special sessions. Council sessions are attended by delegations from all cocoa-producing and cocoa-consuming Member Countries.
The main function of the Council is to define the strategy of the Organisation, as well as to oversee its financial policies and to review and adopt the proposed work programme and budget for each cocoa year.
In its decision-making process, the Council is assisted by various committees and working groups. These include the Economic Committee, the Administration and Budget Committee and the Advisory Committee on the World Cocoa Economy.
The ICCO Executive Secretariat is its executive body and is responsible for the implementation of the five-year strategic action plan adopted by the International Cocoa Council.