From 1 to 3 July 2026, experts from the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO) met in Yamoussoukro, the capital of Côte d’Ivoire for the Organization’s mid-year statutory meetings. On 1 July, the Organisation’s committees for audit, finance and budget, and long-term strategy met. The objective of these preliminary meetings was to examine the various reports and memos of the secretariat, in order to examine them and draw proposals for the plenary. This first day was closed by a tourist outing that allowed the delegations to visit the main points of attraction of the city of Yamoussoukro. 
Among other things, the participants went to the private home of the late Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the first president of Côte d’Ivoire and founder of the city. They also visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, the largest Christian religious building in the world, with its dome culminating at more than 158 m in height. The visit ended with a tour of the city passing through the major schools of the city of Yamoussoukro.
An opening ceremony under the sign of efficiency
The following day, 2 July, the solemn opening ceremony of the 27th Meeting was presided over by H.E. Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly, Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Energy of Côte d’Ivoire and President of APPO, represented by his Chief of Staff Mr. Aka Kadjo Jean-Baptiste. In the series of speeches, it was first the representative of the mayor of the city of Yamoussoukro who addressed a welcome speech in the political capital of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire to all the delegations. He was followed by the Secretary General of APPO, H.E. Farid Ghezali, who expressed his gratitude to the President of APPO, H.E. Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly as well as to the Government and people of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, for the warm welcome, hospitality and favourable conditions put in place for the meetings. He assured the members of the Executive Board of the Secretariat’s commitment to driving a new era of efficiency and transparency at APPO.
New members on the Executive Board
In his speech, the Member of the Executive Board for the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chairman of the Executive Board, Mr. Karrol Kadiata Leta, expressed his gratitude to the President of APPO, for his continued support and guidance to the Executive Board and the Secretariat. He then welcomed his colleagues, particularly the three new members of the Executive Board, Mr. Mourad Beldjehem of Algeria, Mr. Fernand Epigat of Gabon and Mr. Ishaq Saad of Egypt. The President of the Executive Board then indicated the objectives of the meeting, namely, to examine the Secretary General’s mid-year reports, which include the draft Programme of Work and the Secretariat’s Budget for the year 2027, with the aim of giving guidance to the Secretariat for its finalization and submission to the Ordinary Year-End Meeting for recommendation to the Ministerial Council. He also noted that the Executive Board will follow presentations on the legal status of AEICorp and the reports of the various Committees of the Executive Board as well as the APPO Long-Term Strategy Committee.
The message of the President of APPO
In his opening speech on behalf of the President of APPO, Minister Sangafowa-Coulibaly, Mr. Aka Kadjo welcomed all the Members of the Executive Board to Yamoussoukro. He expressed the appreciation of the Ministerial Council to the Executive Board and the Secretariat of APPO for the excellent work done, in particular for the significant progress made for the launch of the Africa Energy Bank (AEB). He then thanked the Executive Board for its support in carrying out the initiatives that the APPO President identified as essential for his presidency, namely the launch of AEB, the restructuring of the Secretariat to strengthen its professionalism, the APPO membership campaign and the promotion of Local Content in oil and gas activities in Africa. Following this launch speech, the effective work of the 27th Ordinary Meeting of the Executive Board of APPO took place according to the directives of the President of APPO and under the chairmanship of Mr. Karrol Kadiata Leta. Important recommendations were made, which will be submitted, in addition to those of the second ordinary meeting of the year of the Executive Board, to the next Ordinary Session of the Ministerial Council of APPO. It should be noted that this is scheduled to be held on November 18, 2026 in Abidjan. The Minister’s representative also invited Member Countries to participate in the International Exhibition of Extractive Resources and Energy (SIREXE) 2026, which will open on the same day as the opening of the Ministerial Council on November 18, 2026.
At the end of the work, the participants expressed their satisfaction with the conduct of the meeting.
Mr. Karrol Kadiata Leta
Member of the Executive Board for the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chairman of the Executive Council
The outcome of this 27th Executive Board Meeting is very positive. We worked in the best conditions and we addressed all the items on the agenda, including the item on the launch of the Africa Energy Bank and the restructuring of the APPO Secretariat. We are very satisfied with this meeting, and we thank the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire for the legendary welcome. For the follow-up, the recommendations that have been taken will be transmitted to the President of the Ministerial Council and the 28th Meeting of the Executive Board will be held in November 2026.
H.E. Farid Ghezali
SG of APPO
This meeting was my first Ordinary Meeting of the Executive Board as Secretary General of APPO. What should be remembered first of all is the excellent organization carried out by the host country, namely the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, and I would like to thank all those responsible, and first and foremost the President of the Republic, H.E. Alassane Ouattara, also the Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Energy, who put all the means to make this event a success. What should be remembered is that all the important items on the agenda were discussed in a cordial, inclusive and professional understanding that allowed us to highlight all the actions carried out during the first six months of the year by the Organization. And we were therefore able to convince in an inclusive way of the need to restructure our Organization, which was approved and will therefore be recommended in the Ministerial Council, but also we took stock of the Africa Energy Bank, we were able to communicate on the minimum that has been reached to be able to start our Bank but also other points, namely the establishment of interactive platforms for the good of the APPO Member Countries, which shows that cooperation is only strengthened through this kind of events. For me, it was a total success, not only from the point of view of the organization but also from the point of view of the climate of the discussions, which were really very professional.
Mr. Célestin Enanto
Member of the Executive Board for Benin and Chairman of the EBFBC Committee
Today’s meeting is a thematic and statutory meeting of our pan-African Organization. As a prelude to the statutory meetings, we held two meetings: the meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee and the meeting of the Long-Term Strategy Committee. All the decisions and recommendations taken during these two meetings are transferred to the Statutory Meeting of the Executive Board, which has made recommendations to be ratified by the Ministerial Council. What should be remembered are fundamentally the recommendations related to the organization of the Conference of Heads of State of the 18 Member Countries of the Organization. In my opinion, this is a very strong decision. Also, there is a recommendation that touches on the restructuring of our Organization because the Ministers of the various countries expect a lot from us for this restructuring which has started and will end in 2027. We have also made recommendations to strengthen bilateral cooperation among Member Countries. All the meetings were a success for the Organization and for each of our countries because we had fruitful exchanges that will consolidate the activities of each other. Regarding the new vision of H.E. the SG, I think that this personality has a vision that will consolidate our Organization. He has provided many charters for the Secretariat, which will reorganize the services and there, instead of two directors who were leading the activities, we will go up to four. I believe that this is a vision that will take our Organization to the next level.
Zacharia Dosso
MD AEICorp
Côte d’Ivoire holds the presidency of APPO this year and it is in this capacity that Côte d’Ivoire was kind enough to host this first meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to take stock of the mid-term of the Organization and especially to take stock of the progress of the Africa Energy Bank, which the Minister is following closely so that the launch can take place before the end of his term. We are off to a good start. It was announced that the minimum required to launch the Bank has been largely discharged, so it is certainly with great pride that the Minister can launch the Bank in October. Also, we presented the activities of AEICorp and its new strategy. Overall, the Organization is doing well and is achieving its objectives under the presidency of H.E. Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly.
