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Candidate from Guyana elected Director General of IICA
The new Director General will take office on January 15th, in a ceremony at the IICA headquarters, in San José, Costa Rica.
Muhammad Ibrahim, from the new oil province Guyana, was elected Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) for the period 2026-2030, defeating Uruguay’s candidate and the country’s former Minister of Agriculture Fernando Mattos.
The election was carried out, by majority, by the Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas, during the 23rd Ordinary Meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IAJ), the highest governing body of the IICA, dependent on the OAS. The meeting took place in Brasília and was organized by the Brazilian government in conjunction with the hemispheric organization.
Brazil had organized a coalition in support of the Uruguayan candidate, Fernando Mattos.
“We will work with all nations on the American continent to build a horizon of cooperation. I feel honored and grateful to have been chosen to lead this great institution. I recognize the remarkable work carried out by General Director Manuel Otero”, said Ibrahim upon accepting the position.
Ibrahim is an agronomist with extensive experience in international management who has dedicated 35 years to building networks to increase the productivity and resilience of the agricultural sector in the Americas. He was proposed to lead IICA by the government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
The new Director General will take office on January 15th, in a ceremony that will be held at the IICA headquarters, in San José, Costa Rica. The chosen one will be the successor of Argentine veterinarian Manuel Otero, who has headed the entity since 2018, as he was re-elected to the position in 2021.