High-ranking diplomats from 35 African countries, representatives of the African Union and United Nations Development Programme’s Global Centre for Public Service Excellence gathered June 7-8 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a workshop on “Strengthening Bilateral and Multilateral Diplomacy in the context of Sustainable Development Goals.”
The workshop was sponsored by the Regional Hub of Civil Service in Astana, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the UNDP
Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Ethiopia Yerlik Ali, Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Regional Hub of Civil Service in Astana Alikhan Baimenov, Director of the Department of Multilateral Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic Kazakhstan Akan Rakhmetullin and Deputy Director of the Regional Service Center for Africa Gerd Trogemann welcomed the participants of the workshop.
Representatives from a number of African governments, in particular, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Liberia, Rwanda, Uganda, Madagascar and other countries shared their visions of development cooperation for sustainable development.
The workshop provided an opportunity to exchange experience and knowledge in the field of diplomacy and international civil service, contributing to the social and economic transformation and human development in Africa. The event considered the idea of establishing a network of diplomats to strengthen multilateral cooperation, the professional exchange of views on Africa and other general issues.
The main objective of the workshop was to establish cooperation with the African diplomatic community in advancing sustainable development goals by deepening diplomatic capacities and using South-South cooperation to develop bilateral and multilateral diplomacy.
The workshop was held in an interactive discussion format, combining reports and practical exercises.
The Regional Hub of Civil Service in Astana is a joint initiative of Kazakhstan and the United Nations Development Programme and was established by 25 member countries, five international organisations. The hub consists of 34 participating countries, including Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development states, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Central Asia and ASEAN.
BY Bagdaulet Sadykov
