Senior officials from member countries of the Alliance of Sahel States met this Thursday in Niamey to prepare the meeting of Foreign Ministers for discussions on the texts which will govern the functioning of the Confederation in gestation between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.The senior officials of the AES examine in particular the texts of the preliminary draft Treaty establishing the Confederation, the draft Internal Regulations of the College of Heads of State, and the draft Final Communiqué of the inaugural summit of the College of Heads of State of the AES Confederation.This meeting of senior officials from the countries of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) will focus on two essential points for the construction of the confederation, namely the preliminary draft treaty establishing the confederation "Alliance of States of the Sahel (AES)''; and the draft internal regulations of the college of Heads of State of the confederation, reports the Niger Press AgencyAt the opening of the meeting, the hea d of the delegation of senior Nigerien officials, Adani Illo, invited all experts to work on the production of texts which reflect the vision of the three Heads of State, and the deep aspirations of the people of the AES.This meeting 'is being held at an important moment in the building of the Alliance of Sahel States made up of countries where the challenges to be met are enormous in the three target areas of the confederation, namely the defense and security sectors. Security, the foreign policy sector and diplomacy and the development sector,' he said.Efforts are concentrated to allow us to have unanimous draft texts which materialize our common vision of the construction of the AES confederation, added the Malian. Mohamed Traoré, head of the delegation of his countryFor his part, Ambassador Saidou Zongo, head of the delegation of senior Burkinabè officials, on behalf of the authorities of Burkina Faso, expressed the commitment and availability of the Burkinabè delegation to fully participate in achi eving the objectives assigned to the meeting.The AES Foreign Affairs Ministers are expected tomorrow Friday in Niamey to follow up on the similar meeting held in Ouagadougou on February 15, in order to give more detail to the operationalization of the AES.Source: Burkina Information Agency