November 8, 2008 - A meeting to discuss the regional integration plan for the IGAD Region started on November 4 at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The three-day meeting bringing together more 80 participants drawn from IGAD Member States, development partner agencies and regional experts was officially opened by Ambassador Sahlework Zewdie, Director General for African Affairs. The Minister's message recalled a decision of the 12th Ordinary Summit of the Assembly of the IGAD Heads of State and Government held last June in Addis Ababa directing the Secretariat to undertake an inventory of what has been achieved so far in terms of regional integration, and make recommendations on the way forward as well as develop and implement regional integration programs. While acknowledging the importance of peace and security as critical pre-conditions necessary for economic development, the IGAD Executive Secretary, Eng Mahboub Maalim pointed out that the challenge and urgency of the moment for IGAD is to prioritize economic development and integration in the region. The Member States will require to allocate development funds based on a specific percentage to finance identified projects and programmes,” said Eng Maalim adding that this calls for the creation of an IGAD Development Fund or even a regional development bank, modalities of which can be worked out. Mr Abdoulie Janneh, the UNECA Executive Secretary in a welcoming speech read by Dr Abdalla Hamdok, said that ECA undertook some reforms to refocus its interventions on promoting regional integration and responding to Africa’s special needs including implementation of NEPAD. The meeting ended on November 6, 2008. The next day, the IGAD Executive Secretary attended a meeting of the IGAD Partners Forum - a group of countries and organizations chaired by Italy aiming at coordinating support to IGAD initiatives. (from IGAD Website and direct information)

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