Port Novo - Benin — A technical meeting to harmonize the investment laws in ECOWAS Member States has ended in Port Novo, Benin on 2nd April 2011. The six-day meeting enabled the participants to compare the framework Community Investment Code (CIC) with the investment laws of Member States, and use the reports of the national consultants to determine areas of convergence and divergence.

During the meeting, Mr. Peter Oluonye of the Directorate of Private Sector who represented the Commissioner for Macroeconomic Policy, Professor Lambert Bamba, recalled that the Commission had engaged the national consultants to conduct a study and analysis of the investment laws of their respective countries. Their reports, he said, would constitute the basis of the harmonization process and enjoined them to demonstrate the same diligence with the next phase of the process guided by the realization that the treatment of investment in a single economic space will position ECOWAS as a competitive destination for investment in the global market.

The Framework CIC provisions were later reviewed comprehensively against the provisions of Member States' respective Constitutions, Commercial laws Sector Codes and National Investment Codes. The experts agreed that the spirit of the Framework CIC converges with most provisions in the Member States' investment laws, a situation that paves the way for the re-drafting of the framework CIC document into Investment Code for ECOWAS, based on the outcome of the meeting by the national consultants.