Abidjan - Cote d'Ivoire — President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire on Saturday, 18th September 2010 in Yamoussoukro formally launched a study that will determine the modalities for the establishment of an ECOWAS Fund for Development Financing for Transport and Energy sectors (ECOWAS-FODETE) and used the opportunity to repeat his call for a community levy to finance the development of regional infrastructure.
The President said that improving regional infrastructure would create a better platform for promoting the region's development. He then urged ECOWAS Member States to avail themselves of the advantage inherent in integration by pooling their individual resources to build a stronger regional economy especially in the transport and energy sectors saying that integration is not possible in the absence of common infrastructure.
He also called on ECOWAS leaders to reinforce their commitments to community levy in order to create a better tool for the region's development. President Gbagbo hailed ECOWAS-FODETE as a mechanism that will help Member States to strategically leverage each other's resources to facilitate the unhindered movement of Community citizens and ensure the optimal use of the region's energy through balanced production and distribution of this resource. He also praised the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) for jointly providing the $1 million dollars for the study that will also define the modalities for the establishment and operations of the ECOWAS-FODETE. He added that this contribution demonstrates their confidence in the viability of the project.
The agreement for the grant from the AfDB and the EBID was signed on 11th September 2010 in Lome, Togo between the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Ambassador James Victor Gbeho and the President of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), Mr. Christian Adovelande. In his speecha the launching of the fund, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Ambassador James Gbeho said that since the approval for the establishment of the Fund in 2009 by Heads of State and Government of the region at their 36th Summit in Abuja, the Commission has worked tirelessly to establish the Fund.
Describing the launching in the same city where the Declaration on the Liberalisation of Air Transport was made in 1999 as " historic and educative," the President said that it showed that the region is 'moving in the right direction in solving the problems of development in the Transport and Energy sectors of our region'.
He lauded the ECOWAS-FODETE initiative by President Gbagbo and said that his actions have 'made our objectives come closer to realization'. The establishment of the Fund demonstrates the unrelenting commitment of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government to improve the elements of the region's competitiveness through the development of regional infrastructure which are relevant catalysts for deepening the regional integration process.
The launch was attended by Ministers for Transport and Energy of Member States, Members of the Government of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire including the Mayor of Yamoussoukro, Commissioners of Infrastructure of the AU, ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions, Heads of ECOWAS National Units and international delegations in Ivory Coast.
