The IGAD Executive Secretary H.E. Amb (Eng.) Mahboub Maalim, visited Vienna Austria upon invitation of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affaires and Austria Development Agency (ADA) from May 1-4,2017.
The visit was organized following the approval of the European Union 40 million Euro under the EU Trust Fund for the implementation of IGAD strategy on peace and secuirty. Austria has been given the responsibility of the management of the funding both by IGAD and EU.
The Executive Secretary during his visit had consultation with Dr. Martin Ledolter, Managing Director of the Austria Development Agency on the overall peace and secuirty issues in the IGAD Region and responsibilities of the management of the funding. This was followed by the expert round table discussions on various programs undertaken by the ADA in Africa and possibilities of more engagement apart from peace and secuirty.
H.E the Executive Secretary also met other high-level officials including the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of European, International Affairs and Integration , and the Ministry of Defense. In all his discussions, he gave briefings on the IGAD Region, the various strategic initiatives, and strategies.
All sides have agreed on the need for enhanced partnership between Austria and IGAD through the management of EU Trust Fund building upon the already existing partnership through ADA’s support to the Conflict Early Warning i.e. CEWARN.
The ES also visited the Austrian Diplomatic Academy and discussed possibilities of linking up with the Djibouti based Institute of Foreign services as the institute will be integrated to IGAD to serve as a Regional center of excellence on Diplomacy.
