5-6 August 2008

Meeting with Partners in Addis Ababa - At the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa a delegation from the Executive Secretariat engaged in a 2-day marathon of meetings and discussions with several key partners explaining in brief the overall process of the Sirte Conference, its final configuration, and the related action plan.
The proposed Agenda of the meetings included:

1. Introduction and welcome
2. Progress on Activities of Steering Committee
3. Progress on preparation for the Ministerial Conference
4. Program of the Conference
5. Any other business

The meetings were also taken as an opportunity to investigate the contribution to the preparation process of the Sirte Conference by the professionals of the AU as well as by UNECA and other stakeholders. The tight schedule of the meetings included a series of discussion on key issues with:

• African Union (AU) - Divisions of "Agric and Rural Economy" and "Infrastructure and Energy"
• UNECA - Secretariat of "UN-Water/Africa", Secretariat of "UN-Energy/Africa", Secretariat of the "Africa Energy Commission
• Key country-representatives of of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Algeria, Congo, and of the Conference Steering Committee (AU, UNEP as chair of UN-Water/Africa, UNECA, IWMI, FAO)