President of the ECOWAS commission Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas has described the European Union as a “dependable, reliable and constant partner” in the West African integration process. While acknowledging the long-standing history between Europe and Africa, Dr. Chambas said the European Union (EU) has greatly supported ECOWAS and its Member States in their developmental efforts, adding that these are “very good prospects for continuing relations between us”.
Dr. Chambas made these remarks at the ECOWAS commission in Abuja on September 10 this year while receiving two European commissioners who paid him a visit to further deepen the cooperation between their the institutions.
The President of the ECOWAS commission held talks with commissioners Louis Michel, in charge of development cooperation and humanitarian aid and Andris Piebalgs, in charge of energy on various issues of common interest, including food security, energy, the EPA negotiations, governance issues, peace and security, migration and socio-political matters.
Both sides exchanged views on the various issues raised and agreed on the need for more EU support for West Africa. High on the agenda is agriculture, for which the European commissioners disclosed that one billion US dollars have been proposed for Africa to help address the food crisis on the continent. They described ECOWAS’ plan on food security as laudable, adding that it makes ECOWAS more receptive as an early beneficiary of the support.
The Commissioners who received briefings on the implementation of some of ECOWAS programmes, called on ECOWAS Member States to be more committed to the implementation of community programmes so as to close the gap between the degree of achievements at the national and regional levels, especially as it relates to the regional indicative programmes, RIP.
They committed themselves to improving the absorption capacity of ECOWAS to the European development fund to facilitate the implementation of programmes.
While expressing satisfaction on the progress made in the area of peace and security, the commissioners also pledged the EU’s support for peace and stability in West Africa. They noted the scheduled legislative elections in Guinea Bissau and the general elections in Ghana later in 2008 and agreed on international support for the two countries.
The European commissioners also accepted ECOWAS’ proposal to be part of a tripartite union composed of ECOWAS, the EU and the United Nations to monitor and evaluate developments in Guinea Bissau.
Regarding areas of collaboration on energy, the commissioners expressed the need for development of interconnection infrastructure on ECOWAS energy projects and on energy efficiency as well as renewable energy. They urged ECOWAS to take advantage of the several technologies in Europe in areas such as renewable energy and adapt them accordingly to help mitigate the challenges being faced in the region.
The commissioners also noted preparations towards the hosting of a ministerial conference on “Drug Trafficking as a Security Threat to West Africa” in Praia, Cape Verde on October, 28 and 29, 2008. They indicated their interest to participate in the conference, which will address issues relating to the threat posed by drug trafficking and abuse to the region.
Organized by the ECOWAS commission in collaboration with the UNODC, UNOWA and the EU, the conference will review the ECOWAS regional response action plan against Drugs and produce a draft political declaration to be submitted to the next summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government.
