The Eleventh Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the UNCCD slated to hold from 16 to 27 September 2013 in Windhoek (Namibia), has prompted the COMIFAC countries to hold a consultation meeting with a view to adopting a common position at the conference. Thus the seventh meeting of the CCD WG was held from 2 to 4 September 2013 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, jointly hosted by ECCAS and COMIFAC with financial backing from GIZ and JICA. It had four main aims: (1) To adopt a document of common positions of COMIFAC countries on key themes of COP11 (2) To review the state of preparedness of national delegations (composition of delegations, logistics, etc.)., (3) To develop a framework for action at COP11 and (4) To evaluate the WGCCD Roadmap 2013.

The opening ceremony which set the tone for this important meeting, saw successively on the floor, Mr. Ilunga Jean MUNENG, WGCCD Chair, Mr. Sato Koyo, representing the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Mr. Godfrey NDAUKILA National Coordinator representing the COMIFAC Executive Secretary and Mr. Benjamin TORAMBE BAMONINGA, Director of Sustainable Development, all of whom commended the initiative and encouraged the participants to make constructive inputs on major challenges during the meeting. The meeting continued subsequently unfolded in plenary sessions and group work around the following key points:

-       Report of the African Regional Preparatory Meeting held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from 21 to 23 August 2013;

-       Decoding the conclusions and recommendations of the African Union meeting

-        Presentation of the points of divergence of the African Regional Preparatory Meeting;

-       Presentations on the progress status of the alignment of National Action Programmes on the ten-year strategy.

Over three days of intense work, representatives of the COMIFAC countries: Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, CAR and DRC, international organizations and civil society (GIZ, JICA, FEE) and members of the COMIFAC Executive Secretariat formulated a common sub-regional stance on the COP11 agenda items. Furthermore, they came up with resolutions and policy recommendations to be put to the Secretaries-General of COMIFAC and ECCAS, CEBEVIRHA, Focal Points, the NGOs FIEF / Femmes et Environnement (Women and the Environment) and JICA.

The full report on the conduct of the meeting and its proceedings are presented in the final communiqué.