Dr Omar Touray, the President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has highlighted the significance of political stability, peace, and security in achieving sustainable development in the region.
Speaking at the 64th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government in Abuja, Dr Touray emphasized that political stability is essential for the free flow of investments and improved socio-economic relations among the member countries.
He further stated that the region’s risk rating has adversely affected the flow of foreign capital and intra-regional trade and investment.
Therefore, the business environment in the community must be improved to take advantage of the growing interest of investors in the region.
To this end, ECOWAS has focused on the development of regional infrastructure and business-friendly policies, which are critical to the region’s integration.
Dr Touray highlighted the inauguration of the International Coordination Centre of the West African Power Pool in Abomey-Calavi, Benin Republic, on 17th November 2023.
This project has enabled the trade of electricity across the region, creating a unified electricity market that will improve access to electricity in areas of low generation from those with high supply.
All ECOWAS member states, except Cabo Verde, are connected to the system, making the sale and purchase of electricity among them possible.
The project received support from the European Union, which provided 35 million Euros towards its realization.
Regarding democratic tenets, Dr Touray stated that ECOWAS has kept faith in the decisions taken against member countries that have violated the democratic process through unconstitutional takeover of power.
The commission is undeterred by the actions of the military junta in the Niger Republic in respect of the humanitarian efforts of the ECOWAS leaders.
Although the military authorities have shown little remorse, they hold not only President Bazoum, his family, and members of his government hostage but also the people of Niger.
In line with the provisions of the community texts, ECOWAS has granted humanitarian access to medical and humanitarian goods in Niger, but reports from humanitarian agencies show that the military authorities have been interfering with humanitarian access.
Dr Touray also highlighted some challenges that ECOWAS has faced.
He spoke about the situation of the Community Levy, which is the lifeline of the community institutions and integration programs.
A levy of 0.5% on imports from outside the community is collected by Member States on behalf of ECOWAS.
However, access to these funds has been a challenge for some time, which has led to low resource mobilization.
The situation is more critical now that member states under sanctions have stopped remitting the levy.
As the financial situation becomes more challenging, the tasks for ECOWAS continue to grow.
The community’s action plan against terrorism is underway, and it has peacekeeping missions to sustain, vital integration programs to finance transitions in member states under military rule to support, and various socio-economic and humanitarian problems to tackle.
