From 7 to 11 April 2014 the College of Europe Development Office organized and delivered three different training courses for participants of several Arab countries. Taking place both in Bruges and Brussels, these tailored training programmes focused on the functioning of the EU and EU-Arab relations, addressing the specific training needs of officials from the League of Arab States Secretariat General in Cairo and diplomats from Saudi Arabia and Algeria.
Twenty-four officials from the League of Arab States Secretariat General in Cairo were trained in Brussels as part of a two-year project called ‘El Hiwar’ (‘dialogue’ in Arabic) in which several training courses were implemented to foster relations between the EU institutions and the League of Arab States (LAS). The participants also visited the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European External Action Service and, through various meetings with officials, they exchanged opinions and views on topics such as Human Rights and Electoral Observation, Security and Humanitarian Assistance or Energy Efficiency and Climate Change.
Furthermore, during the same week and also in Brussels, the College of Europe Development Office organized for the Saudi Arabia Mission to the EU a tailored training seminar for twenty-two Saudi Arabian diplomats on several EU issues such as: decision making processes, EU negotiations, and European foreign policy and border control. Just like the League of Arab State Secretariat General participants, the Saudi Arabian diplomats had the opportunity to visit the European institutions where they discussed EU-Arab relations with a variety of officials. They also visited the Gulf Cooperation Council where they exchanged views on current relations with the European Union.
To complete a busy and interesting week the College of Europe welcomed in Bruges thirty-six diplomats during their training period from the Diplomatic and International Relations Institute of Algeria. The participants were trained on the functioning of the EU and on EU-Algeria relations and were also given a practical approach to diplomatic and negotiation skills. The training course followed a prior one which took place from 17 to 21 March for another group of the same promotion of diplomats.
The College of Europe Development Office would like to say ‘shokran jazilan’ to all the participants and wishes them all success in their careers.