Accra — On February 22, 2018 in Accra (Ghana), the President of the Republic of Niger, His Excellency Mahamadou Issoufou, Co-Chair of the Presidential Task Force on the Single Currency within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), highly commended the quality technical contribution of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in the march towards the single currency within ECOWAS.
This was during the opening of the fifth meeting of the Presidential Task Force on the ECOWAS Single Currency Program held in Accra, Ghana on February 21, 2018.
In his address, in the presence of the Heads of State of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo; Togo, His Excellency Faure Gnassingbé; and Côte d'Ivoire, His Excellency Alassane Dramane Ouattara; and of Mr. Marcel de Souza, outgoing President of the ECOWAS Commission; Mr. Dimitri Sanga, Director of the ECA Sub-Regional Office for West Africa, and several other guests, the President of the Republic of Niger underscored that "To achieve this results, the Ministerial Committee received technical support from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, which conducted a quality study on the single currency process".
According to His Excellency Mahamadou Issoufou, this study, which has just been conducted by the ECA, has helped in drawing up a new roadmap "that is certainly leading us towards the creation of a single currency in 2020".
For President Mahamadou Issoufou, by reviewing the conclusions of the meeting of the Ministerial Committee and approving its proposals, "Our single currency will thereby give us the opportunity to build a strong economic space, capable of competing with other economic spaces under construction around the world".
"We must take advantage of this historic opportunity, we must not fail, for our people have been hoping for this for just too long. He concluded by pointing out that now is the time for us to pay tributes to our illustrious predecessors, who showed us the path to integration, union and fraternity, close to two generations ago.
On his part, Mr. Dimitri Sanga, Director of the ECA Sub-Regional Office for West Africa, noted that "... in this march towards the single currency within the ECOWAS Zone, there is more and more of a "political" convergence as seen, in particular, in the constant renewal, by all countries, of their commitment towards strengthening their economic convergence, based purely on the convergence criteria".
For Mr Dimitri Sanga, the combination of these two forms of convergence is likely to hasten the march towards the single currency within ECOWAS.
It should be recalled that the decision to adopt a roadmap for the ECOWAS Single Currency Program was taken in 2009 by the Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, with 2020 set as the ultimate deadline.
The role of the Presidential Task Force consists therefore in supporting the process of monetary integration and in monitoring progress recorded in the creation of this single currency. It comes to support the ECOWAS Monetary Cooperation Program launched in 1987, with the aim of creating a single monetary zone and promoting the free movement of persons and goods.
The next meeting of the Presidential Task Force will be held in May 2018 in Niamey, Niger.
For more information, please contact: Tahirou Gouro, Head of Communication, ECA-SRO/WA,
Mob: +227 90 99 99 39, Email: gouro2@un.org
Sub-Regional Office for West Africa
428 Avenue du Fleuve Niger
P.O. Box: 744
Niamey, Niger
Tel.: (+227) 20 722961
Fax: (+227) 20 722894
Website: www.uneca.org/sro-wa
