EU, ECOWAS & WAEMU Sign - 37,083,363 Joint Border Posts Works Contracts

4 February 2011
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Economic Community of West African States (Abuja)
press release

Abuja - Nigeria — The President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency James Victor Gbeho and the Deputy Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr. Kazimierz Romanski, hosted today a ceremony in Abuja to mark the signature of contracts for the construction of three Joint Border Posts (JBPs) in West Africa worth -37,083,363.

Ambassador Gbeho described the JBPs "as important tools for facilitating border formalities at the affected borders within the context of the regional Protocol on the free movement of persons and goods through which we intend to liberalize the intra-Community movement of citizens so that they can avail themselves of the opportunities in the region to create jobs, contribute to the improvement of the economy and generally improve the welfare of the citizens".

Mr. Romanski, Deputy Head of Delegation of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, said during the event: "The EU is pleased to celebrate the recent signature of these contracts which mark the start of a critical phase for a flagship West Africa-ECOWAS project, which should result in increased trans-regional commerce and economic growth. Nigeria will directly benefit from this project and also bears, as ECOWAS' major economy and the biggest of its member countries, a specific responsibility of ensuring its success".

A total of three Joint Border Posts will be constructed. Two along the Abidjan- Lagos corridor on the border between Nigeria and Benin (Seme-Krake) and Togo and Ghana (Noepe) under ECOWAS' responsibility, and one on the border between Benin and Niger (Malanville) under UEMOA's responsibility. Technical studies have also been finalized under the project to facilitate the construction of additional four posts, subject to future available financing.

The creation of these joint border posts is a fundamental step towards reaching the double objective to facilitate crossing at the borders by speeding up formalities and to start the setting up of enabling conditions for the eventual lifting of borders. These new posts will have an adequate layout and infrastructure to facilitate the completion of crossing formalities. Thus, they will become catalysts to encourage the countries' services to manage border posts more effectively.

Background The contracts recently signed by the EU, ECOWAS and UEMOA are part of the EU support to West Africa's regional activities in the transport area under the 9th European Development Fund (EDF) 2000-2007, for a total of 82 million Euros to support Transport Facilitation Projects in West Africa.

These funds support various activities in the Road, Railways, Maritime, and Aviation sectors with a view to facilitating the free movement of persons and strengthening intra- regional trade. In addition, the project also supports building the capacity at ECOWAS and UEMOA and the participation of Non-State Actors in transport facilitation issues.

Under the 10th European Development Fund 2008-2013, the EU has allocated a total of 597 million Euros for the support to the regional integration process in West Africa. The EU has also allocated a total of 677 million Euros in support to Nigeria for the same period.

Read the original article on Ecowas.

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