Dear colleagues; Excellency the Secretary General; I welcome you all to the 6th Meeting of the Executive Board taking place simultaneously in Niamey; Republic of Niger and in 7 capitals of our Member Countries.
I am one of the few members who due to unavoidable reasons is unable to travel to Niamey; but thanks to information technology I am participating and seeing all other participants.
Dear colleagues, 2020 has been a year of rebirth of APPO; a year for laying a solid foundation to the new APPO we all aspire to see. It marked the first year of the implementation of the approved Reform of the organization. And I believe I speak the minds of all of us when I say that the signs so far have been most promising: What remains is for us; as a Board to give the Secretariat the necessary support so that our collective aspirations can be fulfilled.
I wish to appeal to my colleagues to take this assignment most seriously especially in this training year; when APPO is working hard to recreate a new organizational culture. I understand from colleagues who have been here longer than me that the meetings of the Board this year have been most professionally conducted; with members focusing on issues and avoiding irrelevancies: I wish to appeal to you all to sustain this practice.
I would also call on the Secretariat to ensure that documents related to Meetings are circulated to Ministers and Board Members in accordance with the APPO Regulations: This will allow members to study the documents and make effective contributions to the discussions: That is the best way to improve the standard and quality of our decisions.
I will now invite you to please adopt the agenda of this meeting.
I now invite the Secretariat to give us an update on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Meeting of the Ministerial Council and the 5th Meeting of the Executive Board.
Thank you.
