The United Nations Secretary-General’s retreat with regional and other organisations was held on 11-12 January 2010 at Greentree Estate, Long Island in New York, USA.

The retreat was attended by high-level United Nations Officials and14 Heads of Regional and other Organisations, including the AU, NATO,EU, OSCE, CARICOM, LAS, OAS, OIC, PIF, SAARC, SADC, ECOWAS,IGAD, SCO. The meeting was chaired by H.E. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations. IGAD was represented by Eng. Mahboub M, Maalim, the Executive Secretary of IGAD and Dr. Debalkew Berhe, PM, Environment Protection. The objective of the retreat was to review existing cooperation mechanisms between the United Nations and regional and other organisations with a view of improving future cooperation in times of crises. In this regard, the organisations shared experience, information and best practices on cooperation in crises prevention and management, crises management and implementation of agreements. The organisations also deliberated on new avenues for future cooperation.

Eng. Mahboub M. Maalim, the Executive Secretary of IGAD, took this opportunity to discuss current and future bilateral cooperation  issues with the United Nations Secretary-General, the Secretary General of the League of Arab Nations, Executive Director of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Executive Secretaries of ECOWAS and SADC as well as other United Nations high-level Officials.