Juliana Taiwo
24 June 2008
Abuja — Te Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) yesterday called for concerted efforts that will address the issue of food crisis and epileptic power supply in the region.
This is coming just as President Yar'Adua said democratic consolidation will stabilise the region.
"I am optimistic that greater commitment to the ideals of democracy and good governance will not only result in the consolidation of stability across the region, but also facilitate the requisite harmonisation of our diverse domestic policies to accelerate our integration process", he said.
At the 34th Ordinary Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government, Blaise Compaore, President of Burkina Faso and Current Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, called for the implementation of the recommendations that emerged from the meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture, Trade and Finance of ECOWAS in May 19, 2008 in Abuja.
He called for the recommendations to be translated to concrete efforts. The meeting also called on member states to undertake a regional offensive on the shortage of food production and hunger and called on the international community to support the efforts of member states to develop modern and competitive agriculture.
Compaore said the meeting was holding under a period that was rather difficult for the sub-region. He lamented the high cost of petroleum products and food crisis experienced by the sub-region describing it as an unprecedented crisis that is spreading across the sub-region and is affecting the purchasing power of consumers and the capacity and functioning of member states as well as investments.
He said the situation was also rendering fragile the lives of the most vulnerable sectors of the society thereby affecting the peace and security of the sub-region.
Compaore said while he welcomes the urgent measures taken to address the crisis with regards to food crisis and high cost of petroleum products, he said the main challenge was to increase productivity in the region's rural sectors so that agriculture will become the real priority as indicated in the budget and priority of respective governments.
"The Ordinary Summit gives us the opportunity to evaluate how far we have gone with the implementation of community's decisions. In this regard, I wish to note the imperative development with the appointment of the commissioner for human development of ECOWAS thereby completing the restructuring of our institutions".
He reiterated ECOWAS' full commitment to the consolidation of regional stability so as to lay down the foundation for sustainable regional economic and social development in member states. "I wish to recognise the commitment of political and social movements who have been working for peace and I wish to call on them to continue to mobilise in this decisive stage".
"The support of the international community is indispensable because we do have financial challenges with regards to financing electoral processes and to creating a safe environment. The Republic of Guinea has witnessed several fractures which are affecting the economic and political situation".
"There is need for new dynamism that will support dialogue and political reforms this will be done with the support of ECOWAS and other partners so that domestic stability in that country will be further consolidated. We must support Guineans to be able to have mutual confidence amongst all political and social stakeholders so that they will no longer be frustration there will be social cohesion and national unity".
"The security situation in the Western African Saharan region is affecting the peace in the sub-region and that is why we wish to reaffirm our commitment to the Bamako Declaration on Democracy and Good governance and we want to condemn all forms of violence against its citizens and institutions of the sub-region".
"In this regard, we wish to reaffirm our full support to governments of the Republic of Mali and Niger who are seeking to safeguard peace and security in their respective countries. And we do strongly support the idea of the holding of the regional conference on the development and security in the Saharan region".
"Drug trafficking is threatening the stability in our region, this plague is a destabilization coming into the Republic of Guinea Bissau and requires specific attention on our parts. We do encourage member states and the commission to further consolidate the fight against drug trafficking through action plans and then through national and regional levels.
"With regards to migration, it is imperative that we build strong economies that will create decent employment so that our young people will remain in our sub-region. The common framework on migration that was adopted during our 33rd Session in January 2008 in Ouagadougou is a benchmark instrument that we must adhere to".
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