The ninth IGAD summit is expected to deliver breakthroughs in economic integration. Leaders of all member states will attend, as will Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Libya and Qatar, the United Nations, the Arab League, and other top international organizations.
The experts' conference of IGAD member states opens in Khartoum on Friday, January 4th, to be followed by the 21st session of the IGAD ministerial council during January 8 - 9, and the full IGAD Summit during January 10 –11.
IGAD, the "Intergovernmental Authority on Development", is a co-operative organization of countries, whose members include Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Djibouti. Originally set up in 1986 to fight the effects of draught, the organization was renamed in 1993 to reflect a much broader regional development agenda.
The upcoming IGAD summit will discuss the peace issue in Sudan, in addition to a range of important issues, including the issue of peace in Somalia and various cooperative efforts aimed at closer economic integration.
Sudan’s news agency has announced that the heads of state and government of all seven IGAD countries will be attending the upcoming IGAD summit. In addition, the Foreign Ministers of Egypt and Libya would attend the IGAD meetings in the light of their respective countries' joint initiative for realizing peace and accord in Sudan.
The IGAD meetings will also be attended by the Foreign Minister of Qatar, which is the current chairman of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), in addition to a number of ministers concerned with international development and cooperation and foreign Affairs from a number of IGAD Partner states, including Norway, Italy and Britain. Representatives from important multinational organizations will also be present, among them the Arab League, the United Nations, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), and the African Economic Commission. (www.albawaba.com)
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