Addis Ababa 23rd May 2017
The IGAD ES, Amb. (Eng.) Mahboub Maalim held talks with Mr. Massimo Gaiani, the Italian Government Director General for Global Affairs.
The ES highlighted the key challenges that the region faces key among them being the South Sudan conflict, humanitarian crisis, violent extremism and terrorism, nation building in Somalia among others. The ES outlined some of the programs that IGAD has instituted to address these challenges.
The ES commended the exemplary leadership of Italy as the Chair of the IGAD Partners Forum. He also thanked the Italian Government for the continued support to key IGAD Programs and activities and called for increased cooperation and support.
Mr. Massimo gave special commendation to the ES for his outstanding leadership that has seen IGAD play a critical role in regional and international affairs.
He pledged increased Italian Government support to IGAD. He particularly appreciated the operationalization of the IGAD Center of Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (ICEPCVE). He welcomed the planed joint training that will be undertaken by the Center and the Italian Carabinieri Experts in areas of countering violent extremism and terrorism.
He also stated that he will explore how the Italian Development Corporation can support IGAD in some of the operational programs especially in humanitarian crisis.
Mr. Massimo was accompanied by Amb. Giuseppe Mistretta, the Italian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Djibouti and IGAD, who is also the Chair of the IGAD Partners Forum; and Mr. Giuseppe Sean Coppola, Deputy Head of Mission Italian Embassy in Addis Ababa.
