ECOWAS Pushes For Economic Integration And Development

budget of the Community institutions, the financial situation of the Community, the status of implementation of the Community levy protocol, as well as reports of the Auditor General of ECOWAS Institutions and the Audit Committee.

The President of the Commission, Dr Omar Alieu Tourey, presented the annual work programme at the 95th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers meeting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Dr Tourey said the ‘Commission will be presenting memoranda on
regional resilience, monetary integration, resource mobilisation for the activation of the regional force for countering terrorism, as well as the resolution of the Board of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development.

“We will be presenting information memoranda on the status of
implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme, including
the work of the Task Force on the ETLS, as well as the Memorandum on
the ECOWAS single currency programme. He emphasised.

The Commission’s President also said that the Council will be briefed

on the financial situation of the West African Power Pool, our flagship regional electricity market platform, which is currently facing challenges on account of debts owed by national electricity companies.

Dr Tourey believed that moving forward with the operationalisation of the ECOWAS Business Council, ‘we have identified Alhaji Aliko Dangote to be the pioneer Chairperson of the Council in view of his vast experience doing business within the region and across Africa.

According to him, through the Council, the ECOWAS Commission hopes to bring the private sector actors around the table as the Commission discusses economic integration and development of the ECOWAS region.

In this regard, the Business Council will facilitate dialogue and partnership between the private sector, governments, and ECOWAS institutions.

He reiterated that the idea of promoting intra-regional investment is gaining attraction in the Member States.

This year alone, the commission has seen several economic investment fora, such as the Forum Senegal Invest, the West African Economic Summit in Nigeria, the Invest in District Savanes forum in Cote d’Ivoire, among others.

We have also received a proposal from the Republic of Sierra Leone for the organisation of a West African Economic Investment Summit.

This appetite for intra-regional investment underscores the need to mobilise capital within our region to build our community rather than wait for precarious foreign investments.