ECOWAS Countries Urged to Fully Implement the Free Movement Protocol

17 August 2011
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Economic Community of West African States (Abuja)
press release

Abuja — The Chairman of ECOWAS Council of Ministers and Nigeria's Foreign Minister, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, on Wednesday, 17th August 2011 in Abuja, called on Member States to fully implement the ECOWAS flagship Free Movement Protocol to boost the regional integration progress. "It is regrettable to note that the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Goods and Services and the Right of Residence and Establishment, a key element in our integration objectives, is yet to be fully implemented after 32 years," the Minister said at the opening of the 66th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers. According to him, the success of the ECOWAS Agricultural, Trade and Economic Development Programmes was dependent on the implementation of the Free Movement Protocol.

Ambassador Ashiru noted that the completion of technical formalities and commencement of the construction works for the five Joint Border Posts along the Abidjan-Lagos, Cotonou-Niamey and Dakar-Bamako regional corridors under the ECOWAS-EU Partnership agreement would facilitate the free movement of goods, services and persons within the region. He highlighted the significant progress recorded in the consolidation of peace, political stability, and democratic governance as well as in economic cooperation and integration in the ECOWAS region, but also pointed to some critical challenges including low human capacity development, environmental degradation as well as shortages of food, energy and capital investment. The Minister also called on ECOWAS Member States to contribute generously towards alleviating the scourge of famine in the Horn of Africa.

He said he had been mandated by the Chairman of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government and President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to appeal to ECOWAS countries to donate to the African Union (AU) Fund to assist the more than 13 million people, mostly children and women, affected by the unfolding famine in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. The donations in cash or preferably in kind, including foodstuffs, medicines, kitchen utensils and blankets, he said, would be welcomed, and urged the Ministers to impress upon their governments the necessity to contribute generously. To underscore African solidarity and the willingness to lead in confronting its own challenges, the AU has convened a Donors' Conference on 25th August 2011 in Addis Ababa to address the drought and famine crisis. Ambassador Ashiru also used the occasion to solicit the support of ECOWAS Member States for Nigeria's candidature for the position of AU Commissioner, one of the two allocated to the region. In his address of welcome, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Ambassador James Victor Gbeho, noted that the Council session was being held in the aftermath of several positive political and security developments in the region, such as the resolution of the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, the restoration of constitutional order and legality in Guinea and Niger, as well as the holding of Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Benin, Nigeria and Cape Verde. "In all of these instances," he said: "ECOWAS played and continues to play its role in ensuring that the ECOWAS region is on course in its drive to consolidate democracy and create the right conditions for greater regional integration". Before it commenced business, the Council observed a minute's silence in honour of the ECOWAS Commissioner for Trade, Customs and Free Movement, Dr. Mohamed Daramy, who passed on in Abuja recently after a brief illness.

Among items on the agenda of the two-day Council meeting is the presentation and consideration of the 2011 Interim Report of the President of the ECOWAS Commission, as well as the endorsement of reports of the meetings of the ECOWAS Ministers in charge of Security in Member States as well as that of the Ministers of Justice, both of which were held in Abuja in November 2009 and May 2011 respectively. The Council will also consider a proposal to improve the implementation of the Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons, propose a draft agenda for the next Summit of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government and consider the interim report of the Financial Controller for 2011. Article 10 of the ECOWAS Treaty vests the Council, which comprises of Ministers responsible for ECOWAS Affairs in Member States, with responsibility for policy direction for the functioning and development of the Commission and institutions of the Community.

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