United States accedes to the International Coffee Agreement 2001

7 February 2005

On 5 February 2005, the U.S. Secretary of State, Dr. Condoleezza Rice made the following statement: "I am pleased to announce that the United States has acceded to the 2001 International Coffee Agreement, and has become a member of the International Coffee Organization effective February 3, 2005. We announced our intention to rejoin in September 2004 and completed the process when we deposited our instrument of accession with the Secretary General of the United Nations.

The International Coffee Organization has undertaken impressive reforms in recent years to strengthen its market orientation, build programs to help coffee farmers improve quality, efficiency and access to markets, and streamline the global coffee trade. It is a valuable forum in which to address the full range of issues affecting coffee production, trade and consumption. We look forward to working closely with our trading partners in the Organization to enhance development efforts and open markets."
The Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization, Mr. Néstor Osorio welcomed the completion of the process that has led to the United States rejoining the Organization. He stated that this showed the support of the world’s largest consuming country for the key instrument of multilateral cooperation between producers and consumers of coffee.

The United States is the world’s largest consuming country, representing 24% of coffee consumption in importing countries. U.S. membership brings to 74 the number of ICO Member Governments.