Liberia’s Ambassador Isaac W. Nyenabo II has taken over the chairmanship of the Committee of Ambassadors (CoA) of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) for the next six months, until January 2024.
Ambassador Nyenabo succeeds the outgoing Chairperson, the Ambassador of Mauritius, Sutiawan Gunessee, following the handover meeting held on September 1, 2023.
According to a dispatch from Brussels by the Minister-Counselor in-charge of Public Diplomacy, Senve Darlington Tehmeh, Liberia’s chairmanship will focus on priority areas such as the signing of the new OACPS-EU Agreement (Samoa Agreement), COP 28, the diversification of partnerships, the mobilization of resources and the completion of the reform and restructuring of the OACPS.
The achievements of the outgoing Bureau under the leadership of Amb. Gunessee, were widely praised at the meeting particularly the considerable efforts made to defend the interests of OACPS, notably in resolving the difficulties associated with the signing of the Samoa Agreement.
For the period of August 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024, the incoming Bureau, under the leadership of Liberia comprises, West Africa- Ambassador Samuel Tamba MUSA of Sierra Leone; East Africa- Ambassador Aden Mohamed Dileita of Djibouti; Central Africa- Ambassador Christian Ndongala Nkuku of the Democratic Republic of Congo; Southern Africa-Ambassador Ammon Mutembwa of Zimbabwe; The Caribbean-Ambassador Gilbert A. van Lierop of Suriname; and the Pacific-Ambassador Jorge Trindade Neves de Camões of Timor Leste.
The Bureau of the Committee of Ambassadors, which coordinates the work of the full committee, comprises one representative from each of the six regions of the OACPS, as well as a Troika comprised of the current, outgoing, and incoming chairpersons. The current Troika includes the Ambassadors of Liberia, The Republic of Mauritius, and the representative of the Caribbean region, which will be next to hold the presidency.
