Brussels, 25February 2022/OACPS: In the margins of the recently concluded African Union-European Union (AU-EU) Summit, a number of dignitaries of the Members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) visited the organisation’s Brussels headquarters to hold bilateral meetings with OACPS Secretary-General, H.E. Mr Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti and his management team and to address the OACPS Committee and Ambassadors.

Secretary-General Chikoti, speaking of the visits, commented, “It is important for us to benefit from the presence of our leaders in Brussels. The relevance and visibility of our Organisation can be further enhanced through frequent and deeper exchanges with OACPS Leaders.” The meetings are all the more important in light of the upcoming 10th Summit of OACPS Heads of State and Government in Luanda, Angola in December 2022, at which OACPS leaders will take stock of the progress towards the organisation’s goals and once again chart the future of the organisation. The 10th Summit will be the first Summit following the initialing of the new Partnership Agreement with the EU.

The Committee of Ambassadors received the Presidents of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Sierra Leone, and the Vice-President of the Republic of Angola.

In addition to meeting bi-laterally with the presidents of Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Seychelles, and Sierra Leone, and the Vice-President of the Republic of Angola, Secretary-General Chikoti also met the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Eswatini, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Central African Republic and President of the OACPS Council of Ministers; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Gabon; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad; the Minister of Industry of the Dominican Republic; the Executive Secretary of the SADC; and the President of the Commission of ECCAS.

Members of the Management team at the Secretariat also met with a delegation of Zanzibar that accompanied the President of the United Republic of Tanzania.

Photo: Visit by H.E. Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone(5th from left) with Members of the OACPS Committee of Ambassadors