IOM has received a request by ECOWAS for the organisation of a travel document workshop for ECOWAS States. As IOM has organised in May 2005 a regional workshop on travel document and their issuance systems for CENSAD states in Niamey, Niger, IOM is responding to this request by ECOWAS by inviting Central and Western African States that have not participated in the previous workshop to attend the second regional workshop on travel documents and their issuance systems, which will be organised early 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya. Individual Member States eligible for 1035 Facility funding have affirmed their wish to participate, through 1035 Facility support.
The proposed highly technical workshop requires strong international expertise to cover the range of topics, and this expertise, usually from ICAO, is readily availed when provided to a large audience. Consequently, and to allow for substantial economies of scale, the workshop will be jointly organised with the Capacity Building for Management Migration Programme (CBMMP) for the East African Community and the following participants will be funded by the 1035 Facility:
-9 Central and Western African States (Cameroon, Cape Verde, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritania, Sao and Tome Principe).