Lagos — Mexico has assumed the position of a permanent observer at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to be represented by the country's ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Luis Alberto Barrero Stahl.

The status commenced on October 30 in a ceremony which took place in the Organization´s venue in Abuja, Ambassador Barrero Stahl was welcomed by the President of ECOWAS, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, presenting the compliments of the Secretary (Minister) of State, Ambassador Patricia Espinosa and wishes of the Government of Mexico to find ways of improving bilateral relations with all those countries in the West African region where Mexico has no diplomatic representative.

ECOWAS, the economic organization, founded on May 28th, 1975, includes 15 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cap Vert, Cote d´Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

With the reopening of the Embassy of Mexico to Nigeria in October 2008, Mexico is pushing forward its relations with the country and all the other countries of the Sub-Saharan region, exploring all the possibilities in order to boost the bilateral relations with each one of them, especially on the economic-commercial sector.

In the case of Nigeria, for example, there are many possibilities. This is a country of more than 150 million inhabitants; a figure that gives an idea of the enormous market it represents. Nigeria and Angola are the main oil producers in Africa, therefore the bilateral cooperation on this issue is also very important.

The Embassy of Mexico to Nigeria also covers Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, all these countries -with the exception of Cameroon- members of ECOWAS. Therefore, the participation of Mexico as an observer, will give an opportunity to obtain information and have direct contact with the officials of each member state who gather periodically in Abuja at different levels from Heads of State and Government to ministerial and technical ones.

ECOWAS looks with much optimism towards Mexico and wishes to open cooperation channels with this important Latin American country. Dr. Ibn Chambas expressed his satisfaction and thanked Mexico for the intention of improving the relations with each and every country of the West African region. Some of the first possible projects could be in the field of telecommunications, agro-industry and infrastructure in general.