The seminar was a platform for discussions between EU officials from Delegations, Headquarters (EEAS and Commission DGs) and Member States present locally; the representatives from the 14 countries and 4 regional institutions of the Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region; and other external non-EU or ACP officials. The seminar was on the major issues that will influence the development of the regions and the EU response strategies.
4 October 2017 a number of ad-hoc bilateral meetings gathering around groups of 10 participants each took place during the day. The same day, up to 30 EU officials gathered for a working dinner at the EU Ambassador’s residence.
On 5 October 2017 two sessions were organized. The first, in the morning, with around 50 participants. The second, in the afternoon, with around 90 participants. Finally, a working dinner for around 70 participants was organized. Furthermore, there were EU-NAO/RAO bilateral meetings of up to 30 minutes each taking place in the afternoon, one after the other and gathering 10 participants each.
On 6 October 2017, three sessions took place. The first scheduled for the whole day and consisted of (EU and NAOs/RAOs) bilateral meetings of up to 30 minutes each, in principle taking place one after the other and gathering around 12 participants each. However, parallel meetings were also organized. The second, a half-day session concerning the EA-SA-IO RIP High Level Group meeting (HLG), ran in the morning in parallel to the bilateral meetings and gathered around 15 participants each. The third, took place after the other two sessions, with up to 35 participants.
Services included international travel, visa applications, accommodation, conference rooms, breakaway rooms, catering, local transport, note-takers and interpretation for English, French & Portuguese.