The second International Migration Policy Conference for East Africa, The Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Region took place in Addis Ababa in June 2003. The IMP is a cooperative effort including IOM with relevant UN and other agencies, and for this workshop also included involvement of the Organization for African Unity, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community, the European Commission and other relevant parties. Representatives from several IOM Member and Observer States, and other countries, were invited to participate in the four-day event.
Following the model used in 2001 following the first IMP Greater Horn event, IOM through this 1035 project conducted a one-day informal IOM/Government Programme Planning Working Session following the closure of the IMP workshop. The Working Session elaborated and focused on specific programmatic planning leading both from the workshop discussions and from other IOM/government consultations in the region. This meeting addressed many practical areas of cooperation and identified the focal points for follow up on specific initiatives. The funding allowed for the additional day in Addis for representatives from the noted benefiting countries and their IOM counterparts.