In preparation for the Summit, Minister Dussey had reached out to OBP to provide technical support to help frame issues that could support the goals of the African Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIMS), which will form the basis for planning.\u00a0 Taking advantage of the Minister\u2019s presence in New York, OBP invited several maritime experts from governments, international organizations and non-governmental agencies to attend Focus Group meetings which were held on a variety of maritime issues of critical importance to the entire African continent.\u00a0 Based on expertise provided by some of the CGPCS participants, the discussions also addressed possible lessons learned from East Africa that could be applied to Pan African challenges. The Focus Group meetings addressed ocean environment conservation, illicit trafficking and smuggling, illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing in addition to piracy and armed robbery at sea. Each group generated practical recommendations and actionable goals that could frame maritime issues and help guide the agenda of the upcoming summit.<\/p>\n
Issue Recommendations Presented at the Side Event<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a9 International Peace Institute<\/p><\/div>\n The Focus group ideas were then presented to Minister Dussey during the second panel of the side event, which was moderated by J\u00e9r\u00f4me Michelet of OBP and included Lisa Speer of Natural Resources Defense Council, Robert Mazurek of Secure Fisheries, John Steed of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, and the French Special Representative for the Fight Against Piracy, Ambassador V\u00e9ronique Roger-Lacan.<\/p>\n Both the focus group and panel discussions proved to be important steps in the preparation of the African Maritime Summit, and provided a vision of some of the most critical issues to African governments. \u00a0The Summit will bring together the Heads of State and government of the fifty-four countries in the African Union in Lom\u00e9, Togo to create consensus on a cohesive African maritime future based on implementation of the 2050 AIM Strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Togolese government is committed to the success of this Summit,\u201d said Minister Dussey. \u201cWe believe that this event will mark the beginning of a new era, which sees the maritime domain as an important tool in African development.\u201d\u00a0 Minister Dussey concluded the event by saying, \u201cAfrica is a continent of the future. Believe in us and we can work together.\u201d<\/p>\n Oceans Beyond Piracy and its partners are looking forward to continuing their work with Togo in a consultative capacity to help ensure actionable progress is achieved in November.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HEM Robert Dussey, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Republic of Togo gave the keynote remarks at\u00a0the CGPCS side event held on 9 July on the topic of \u201cSupporting Pan African Goals for 2050.\u201d\u00a0 The event was sponsored by Oceans … Continue reading ![\"\u00a9](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/piracylessons\/files\/2015\/07\/Support-for-African-Maritime-Summit-Panel.jpg\")
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