Ministers to Consider Ecowas Mineral Development Policy in Accra

24 May 2011
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Economic Community of West African States (Abuja)
press release

Abuja - Nigeria — ECOWAS Ministers in-charge of Mineral Resource Development will hold their 3rd meeting in Accra, Ghana on 3rd June 2011 to consider among others, the Draft ECOWAS Mineral Development Policy and the Terms of Reference on the ECOWAS Mining and Oil Forum (ECOMOF).

The ministerial session will also consider the recommendations of the preceding National Experts Workshop/ Ad-hoc Committee meetings starting 26 May 2011 also in Accra on the same agenda topics. Participants for the experts' sessions will include National Focal Persons, a representative each of the Chambers of Mines of Ghana and Guinea, the Ad- hoc Committee Chairman, representation from Regional Civil Society Organizations and the ECOWAS Commission team.

The 62nd session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers held in 2009 adopted a Regulation relating to the development and organisation of the Community's mining sector along with the ECOWAS Directive on the Harmonization of Guiding Principles and Policies in the Mining Sector. In compliance with the Regulation's requirement for the ECOWAS Commission to set up a West African Mining Forum as a framework for periodic meetings and exchanges among stakeholders in the Mining Sector, the President of the Commission, at the 2nd Mineral Sector Ministers Meeting in Liberia, in October 2010, inaugurated the 10-member Ad-hoc Committee to monitor the implementation of the ECOWAS Directive.

The October 2010 Ministerial meeting also adopted a number of recommendations, including those that called for the finalization of the Draft ECOWAS Mineral Development Policy; establishment of a Permanent Forum (ECOMOF) to deal with matters affecting the Mineral Sector in the region; and the establishment of a uniform Regional Cadastre System interfaced with the National Systems.

The other recommendations urged the ECOWAS Commission to seek funding from development partners in the Mineral Sector and internal sources such as from ECOWAS Solidarity Fund to be established, while all Member States were called upon to support mineral resources development in the region by domesticating regional initiatives in the sector as part of their mineral resources development policy. The ECOWAS Commission is in the process of implementing these decisions.

The series of follow-up meetings in Accra will also consider the Draft Proposal on the Community-wide Cadastre System; Status Reporting on Member States obligation to gazette the Directive on the Harmonization of Guiding Principles and Policies in the Mining Sector and the operationalization of the Ad-hoc Committee to monitor the implementation of the ECOWAS Directive. The Accra meetings are organized by the ECOWAS Commission through its Industry and Mines Directorate.

Read the original article on Ecowas.

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