Message from Secretary-General Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti on his first 100 Days in Office at the OACPS
Brussels, 8 June 2020/OACPS: Today marks my first 100 days in Office as Secretary-General of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States. On assumption of duty on 02 March 2020, I had a clear vision of my first 100 days in Office. However, after just two weeks, our world changed profoundly with the arrival of the corona virus.
Looking back, I can describe my first 100 days in Office as a period of two parallel phases – one of advancing foreseen activities and the other, as managing circumstantial matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the past 100 days, with the coming into force of the revised Georgetown Agreement on 05 April 2020, we successfully changed our name from the ACP Group to the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS). In consultation with the six regions of the OACPS, I have appointed a gender-balanced senior management team that represents greater country equity among our 79 Member States.
In addition to this, in the circumstantial box, the Secretariat has continued to service our Member States during the COVID-19 lockdown. We adopted innovative working methods, such as virtual conferencing as a replacement for physical meetings. This allowed for the ACP-EU negotiations for the post-Cotonou dispensation and meetings with key partners to proceed. The Secretariat was also able to host, virtually, the successful 1st ever Extraordinary Summit of OACPS Heads of State and Government on 03 June 2020. We also celebrated our 45th anniversary, and the first time as the OACPS.
As we are adapting to the “improved normal”, I will focus during the coming period on the conclusion of the post-Cotonou negotiations, the strategic reform of the OACPS Secretariat and the launch of the reconstruction of our headquarters, consolidation of the role of the OACPS on the global scene, including the establishment of relations with new partners, and improved service delivery to Members of the OACPS.
I am committed to see an OACPS that is innovative and strategic, one that is a leading voice for multilateralism, a trusted and respected global player, an agent for intra-OACPS cooperation, and an Organisation that provides value for membership.