Economic Community of West African States

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The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen West African countries, founded on May 28, 1975 with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos. Its mission is to promote economic integration. In 1976 Cape Verde joined ECOWAS, and in December 2000 Mauritania withdrew, having announced its intention to do so in December 1999.

It was founded to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for the member states by means of economic and monetary union creating a single large trading bloc. The very slow progress towards this aim meant that the treaty was revised in Cotonou on July 24, 1993 towards a looser collaboration. The ECOWAS Secretariat and the Fund for Cooperation, Compensation and Development are its two main institutions to implement policies. The ECOWAS Fund was transformed into the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development in 2001.

ECOWAS is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community.

Member states of ECOWAS are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The current Executive Secretary is Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas. The current chairman is President Tandja Mamadou of Niger.

Members

Current members

(1975)
(1975)
(joined 1976)
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Former members

(1975; quit 2000)

Currency Cooperation

The West African CFA franc (XOF), created on December 26, 1945, is currently used in six formerly French-ruled African countries, as well as in Guinea-Bissau (former Portuguese colony). It is managed by the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).

The Eco is the proposed name for the common currency the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) plans to introduce on 1 December, 2009. The WAMZ includes the Anglophone countries of Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, and the Francophone nation of Guinea. Liberia is also interested in joining this monetary union. The ultimate goal is to unite the UEMOA and the WAMZ to form a single monetary zone in West Africa (ECOWAS), which Cape Verde would then also join.

Free movement of people

ECOWAS Travel certificate has entered into circulation in Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
ECOWAS Passport is printed and operational in Benin, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal.

Regional Security Cooperation

The ECOWAS nations have signed a non-aggression protocol in 1990 as well as two earlier agreements in 1978 and 1981. They have also signed a Protocol on Mutual Defence Assistance, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 29 May, 1981 that provided for the establishment of an Allied Armed Force of the Community

Comparison with other Regional blocs

Executive Secretaries

Aboubakar Diaby Ouattara (Côte d'Ivoire) January 1977 – 1985
Momodu Munu (Sierra Leone) 1985 – 1989
Abass Bundu (Sierra Leone) 1989 – 1993
Edouard Benjamin (Guinea) 1993 – 1997
Lansana Kouyaté (Guinea) September 1997 – 31 January 2002
Mohamed Ibn Chambas (Ghana) 1 February 2002 – Present

Chairmen

Gnassingbé Eyadéma (Togo) 1977 – 1978
Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria) 1978 – 1979
Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal) 1979 – 1980
Gnassingbé Eyadéma (Togo) 1980 – 1981
Siaka Stevens (Sierra Leone) 1981 – 1982
Mathieu Kérékou (Benin) 1982 – 1983
Ahmed Sékou Touré (Guinea) 1983 – 1984
Lansana Conté (Guinea) 1984 – 1985
Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria) 1985 – 27 August 1985
Ibrahim Babangida (Nigeria) 27 August 1985 – 1989
Dawda Jawara (The Gambia) 1989 – 1990
Blaise Compaoré (Burkina Faso) 1990 – 1991
Dawda Jawara (The Gambia) 1991 – 1992
Abdou Diouf (Senegal) 1992 – 1993
Nicéphore Soglo (Benin) 1993 – 1994
Jerry John Rawlings (Ghana) 1994 – 27 July 1996
Sani Abacha (Nigeria) 27 July 1996 – 8 June 1998
Abdulsalami Abubakar (Nigeria) 9 June 1998 – 1999
Gnassingbé Eyadéma (Togo) 1999
Alpha Oumar Konaré (Mali) 1999 – 21 December 2001
Abdoulaye Wade (Senegal) 21 December 2001 – 31 January 2003
John Agyekum Kufuor (Ghana) 31 January 2003 – 19 January 2005
Mamadou Tandja (Niger) 19 January 2005 – Present

References

External links

ECOWAS Official Web Site
ECOWAS Parliament
ECOWAS Revised Treaty
ECO(was) Bank West African banking group, present in ten ECOWAS countries, including Central African country Cameroon. ECOBANK's Initial Public Offer of eight million plus shares in Accra, Ghana in May 2006 was oversubscribed. Money generated from this IPO, that has resulted in the landing of ECOBANK on the Ghana Stock Exchange, will see ECOBANK expand to remaining ECOWAS countries. More: * ;
PowerPoint presentation of ECOWAS, 2004
Mbendi profile

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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 13:17:02 PDT (GMT -0700)
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