Challenges of Economic Integration In The Sub-region, Global Market Remained Unresolved – PS Finance

The permanent secretary at the ministry of finance and economic affairs has said that the ECOWAS has made significant progress to integrate the West African community, especially with regards to the free movement of goods and people, interventions in conflict resolution and agricultural policy, but added that “In spite of its many registered achievements on the one hand, the challenge of full economic integration in the sub-region as well as their integration into global markets on the other hand remain largely unresolved.”
Mod Secka was speaking at a four day follow up meeting on civil society action plan for the Community Development Programme (CDP) - a tool that seeks to ensure a greater involvement of the people of the Region, for better ownership of programs initiated by the region.
The meeting was aim at boosting the process of civil society involvement in the CDP and inform actors of civil society on the progress of CDP; sharing and finalizing the summary report of the six civil society consultations on the CDP and the contribution document of regional civil society to the CDP, and identify the perspectives of civil society involvement process in the formulation of CDP.
For the PS: “This workshop truly reflects the strong and continued commitment of the ECOWAS Commission towards successful regional integration of its member states and to ensure a sustainable implementation of the Community Development Program as envisaged in the its Vision 2020.”
The vision 2020 is the brainchild of the Summit of head of states and government of ECOWAS in 2006, when they decided to transform the Executive Secretariat of ECOWAS into a Commission and adopted a mission statement dubbed ‘vision 2020’.
The mission sought the movement from an ECOWAS of States towards an ECOWAS of People; Creation of a space where people can live in dignity and peace under the rule of law and good governance; the achievement of a West African Region without borders, and the establishment of a region well integrated into the global village that will derive maximum benefits from globalization.
He emphasized on the need for integration both economically and socially, saying “The agenda for regional integration is indeed critical to our collective efforts to strengthen the foundations for a stable and prosperous Africa.”
The CDP which has an overall strategy of integrating people within the ECOWAS region also has ten strategic axes, among which are the formulation of common agricultural and industrial policies; interconnection of transport infrastructure; interconnection of communication infrastructure; interconnection of energy supply; financial and monetary integration among others.
Professor N. Lambert Bamba, Commissioner for Macroeconomic Policy ECOWAS commission highlights the importance of the meeting, saying “we expect concrete actions to the expectation of your determinant role in achieving an ECOWAS of the peoples and the Commission's commitment.”
He highlighted the importance of civil society participating in meeting up the targets of the CDP. “To mark its interest in the civil society’s participation in its policy, the ECOWAS Commission has established a Directorate for Civil Society at the Department for Human Development and Gender.”
He underlined his gratitude to the civil society organizations for gracing the occasion, he was quick to assure of the Commission’s support towards making the ECOWAS community a deeply integrated region and firmly committed to economic and social development.