Senior Officials' Meeting in Burkina Faso, 12-13 February 2019

Senior Officials’ meeting (SOM) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on 12^th and 13^th February 2019
Following the adoption of the cooperation programme governing the dialogue for the period 2018-2020, the Rabat Process partners met on 12^th and 13^th February 2019 in Ouagadougou for a Senior Officials’ Meeting with the main objective of launching the implementation of the Marrakech Action Plan 2018-2020.

 This important meeting, held under the aegis of Burkina Faso, was also an opportunity to exchange on the conclusions of the Valletta Senior Officials’ Meeting, held on 14^th and 15^th November 2018 in Addis Ababa. In the light of recent events at the continental and global levels, the positioning of the Rabat Process in these new contexts and its continued added value as a regional dialogue were also discussed by the dialogue partners.

The Senior Officials’ Meeting brought together 25 African countries (including two observer countries, Libya and Algeria), 14 European countries and regional organisations partners to the dialogue (ECOWAS, European Union). Two international organisations (UNHCR and IOM) also participated as observers. Burkina Faso, as host country, mobilised a large delegation led by the Minister of African Integration and Burkinabe Abroad, his Excellency Paul Robert Tiendrebeogo. A welcome message was pronounced by the Mayor of the Commune of Ouagadougou, Mr Armand Beouindé, at the opening ceremony.

During the first working day of the meeting, the dialogue partners discussed together how best to integrate and reflect the cross-cutting priorities set out in the Marrakech Declaration into the activities of the Rabat Process, while ensuring an operational dialogue. The second day was devoted to programming the dialogue activities and developing a working methodology for the implementation of the Marrakech Plan of Action over the course of the next two years. A consultation was conducted prior to the meeting with all dialogue partners in order to better understand their thematic priorities and suggestions for the effective operationalisation of the Marrakech Declaration and Plan of Action.

The meeting ended with the approval of a calendar of activities and a working methodology for the coming years. The conclusions and recommendations of the Rabat Process partner countries can be downloaded below in the final meeting report.

Downloads:

• Final report (EN) / Rapport final (FR) 
• Présentation Observatoire Africain des Migrations (FR) 
• IOM Presentation (EN) 
• Présentation PACV (FR)

Video interviews

Watch more videos from the press conference on our YouTube channel.