Opening remarks by SRSG Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah to the International Contact Group on Somalia

Jeddah, 17 December 2009 – I would like to thank all our friends and partners from here and far away, the Somali Prime Minister, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Ministers and Ambassadors, for coming here. Welcome to you all and all my thanks to the OIC and to Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu personally for his unstinting support and above all for his understanding of the Somali tragedy.

I would like to thank the OIC representative during the discussion in Djibouti for his assistance, persistence and help working with the Somalis to support all of us to advance and reach the point where we are today. In Brussels we benefited from the OIC representatives and their presence showed the commitment of the OIC.