1st IORA Strategic Planning Workshop and the 2nd Workshop on the Institutional Strengthening of the IORA Secretariat

Conscious of economic transformation and speed of change the world over, and the significant role played in this process by increased intensity in regional economic co-operation, IORA is in the process of preparing bold actions to bring the organization to greater heights. As well as delivering on its current mandate in implementing the five-year Action Plan (2017-2021) of the Association, IORA has the ambition to bring the right strategies in place to respond to current and future challenges facing the IORA region and elsewhere.

To drive this initiative, the Republic of South Africa, in its capacity as the present IORA Chair and in collaboration with IORA Secretariat, is to host the 1^st IORA Strategic Planning Workshop in Mauritius on 9-10 April 2019.  This Workshop will provide an unprecedented opportunity to deepen IORA’s strategic and economic partnerships in the region and elsewhere and thereby pave the way forward for important reforms. It will also give IORA Member States and its Dialogue Partners future direction, which will inform the strategic planning process that is anchored firmly in the organization’s fundamental principles. The Strategic Planning Workshop will be an important blueprint to IORA to continue its work in promoting the welfare of its peoples by improving their standards of living and quality of life.

The said Workshop will be followed on 11 April 2019 by the 2^nd Workshop on the Institutional Strengthening of the IORA Secretariat which is a review workshop on the implementation of the recommendations of the first Workshop that had been held in Mauritius in March 2018. Among other topics, the agenda includes a review of the structure and operations of the Secretariat. Strengthening the IORA Secretariat, by fine-tuning its functional alignment with the strategies of the organization, will be the crucial success factor underpinning the discussions at this Workshop.