Madar (Nouakchott) - The secretary general of Mauritania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Mauritanians Abroad on Saturday 7 November 2026 took part in the ministerial meeting of the Executive Council of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), held in the Libyan capital Tripoli, representing the foreign minister, the Mauritanian News Agency (AMI) reported.
According to the agency, the meeting discussed issues related to strengthening the Community's institutional work and activating its role in supporting cooperation and integration among member states, as well as the political, security, economic and development challenges facing the region amid current regional and international shifts.
In a speech at the meeting, the secretary general stressed the importance of reviving the role of CEN-SAD and making its institutions more effective, so that it can carry out the tasks and objectives for which it was established, help consolidate cooperation and coordination among member states, and support efforts to achieve security, stability and sustainable development in its regional space.
He reaffirmed, according to the same source, Mauritania's commitment to continue working with member states to strengthen the Community and develop its working mechanisms, in line with the aspirations of the region's peoples and the common interests of its states.
The secretary general was accompanied at the meeting by Mauritania's ambassador in Tripoli and the ministry's director for the African Union and African regional organisations.
The ministerial meeting was preceded by a preparatory meeting in Tripoli, at which Libya's foreign ministry said one of its priority issues was the return of the Community's executive secretariat to its headquarters in Tripoli, after it was temporarily moved to N'Djamena in 2019, as Madar reported on 5 November. CEN-SAD was founded in Tripoli on 4 February 1998.
