Madam chairperson, Distinguished Members of the Executive Board, I welcome you all to the 6th Meeting of the APPO Executive Board holding in hybrid form with delegates in attendance here in Niamey, the seat of the Presidency of APPO for 2020, as well as via video-conference across our various national capitals. I am pleased to note that all Member Countries are participating in today’s meeting with 07 EB Members attending in person while 08 are connected via video conference.
I should like to note that this is the first meeting of the Executive Board since the Secretariat relocated to its permanent Headquarters in Brazzaville city. I would like to use this opportunity to express our deep appreciation to the Government and good people of the Republic of Congo and in particular Mr. Jean-Noel Makaya, the Executive Board Member of the Republic of Congo and his team in Brazzaville for the support they gave the Secretariat in the course of our relocation.
Madam chairperson, Distinguished EB Members, the relocation of the Secretariat to Brazzaville marks the beginning of our aggressive drive towards achieving our aspirations as enshrined in our Statute: to become the world’s reference institution on Africa’s hydrocarbon matters. Henceforth we shall not delay taking key decisions because we are unsure where and when we are going to be settled.
The various challenges that APPO and the global community were confronted with in the outgoing year notwithstanding, the Secretariat recorded some achievements. Some of them include:
- The design, development and launching of a new APPO website: www.apposecretariat.org as well as dedicated email addresses for staff, Ministers and EB Members;
- The development of a Corporate Communications Guidelines;
- The relocation of staff, equipment and Secretariat from Abuja to Brazzaville;
- The signing of the New Headquarters Agreement with the Republic of Congo;
- Launched recruitment process;
- Embarked on digitization of APPO files, documents and archives;
- Begun coordination work on the Study of the Future of the African Oil Industry in the light of COVID-19 and COP 21;
- Successfully organized 3 EB and Ministerial Meetings;
- Initiated a mechanism for cooperation and collaboration with the African Refiners and Distributors’ Association, ARDA, and the Africa Energy Commission, AFREC, and this initiative is to lead to the formation of the Africa-OPEC Energy Dialogue in early next year.
Madam chairperson, Distinguished EB Members the leadership of the Secretariat is determined to raise the profile of APPO to be comparable to or even exceed those of its peers in the industry. But no matter how determined we are, no matter how committed we are, we can only achieve what the resources available to us can allow us to achieve. And by resources I do not limit it to financial support. We recognize the difficult times our Member Countries are going through and would always be mindful of our demands: What we believe is an even more Important resource for the achievement of our objectives is your constant guidance; support and trust: Of course, we are mindful of the fact that trust is not given: it is earned: We assure you that we will work to earn your trust: We will not fail you: We will not fail our Member Countries and we will not fail our peoples:
In the past meetings of the Executive Board; I had delivered both the opening remarks and the presentations: Now that the Secretariat is settling down with its staff; and in the spirit of team work; the relevant officials will deliver the presentations while I focus on the opening remarks; highlighting some of the key contents of the presentations. I will be available to clarify matters as needed.
As we requested and the Board graciously approved at the Extraordinary Meeting of the EB last August; you will see an increase in the 2021 budget of the Secretariat of about 29 percent of the full 2020 budget:
The Secretariat Work Program for 2021 which will be presented by relevant officers should be viewed as a transitional or Skeletal Work program in the sense that we only have one-sixth of the approved workforce of the Secretariat: The recruitment process for the officer corps takes an average of 9 months: While we will do all within our powers not to compromise on the process of recruitment; we will strive to have the positions in phase one filled by the end of the first half of 2021:
I would like to appeal to distinguished EB Members particularly those whose countries have not yet paid their contributions to assist the Secretariat get these monies paid:
Thank you for your kind attention.
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tient sous forme hybride avec les délégués présents ici à Niamey, le siège de la Présidence de l’APPO pour 2020, ainsi que par vidéoconférence à travers nos différentes capitales nationales. Je suis heureux de constater que tous les Pays Membres participent à la réunion d’aujourd’hui avec les 7 membres du Conseil Exécutif y participent en personne tandis que 8 sont connectés par vidéoconférence.
