November 4, 2007

ECOWAS Adopts Action for 2008

By Melissa Chea-Annan, Accra, The Inquirer (Monrovia)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has adopted a Strategy and Action Plan as a means to follow up its activities for the period of 2007-2008.

The adoption was made at the end of its first Business Forum on Wednesday in Accra, Ghana, under the theme "Harnessing Private Sector Energies for the Challenges of Integration".

Since its inception in 1975, ECOWAS has made efforts to promote business and the investment climate in the region.

The over all goal of the forum was to harness energies in the private sector for the promotion of Cross-Border Businesses, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SME) and the creation of a highly competitive region preferred by investors as required by ECOWAS.

The Forum brought together 200 delegates, including business persons, and government officials from 15 ECOWAS countries, as well as other international organizations.

Liberia, which also formed part of the forum was represented by ten persons, including former Chief Justice, Henry Reed-Cooper, now President of the Liberia Chamber of Commerce (LCC), former Central Bank Governor, David Vinton and the Vice President for Operation of the Liberia Business Association (LIBA), Mrs. Theodosia Clarke-Wah, among others.

According to the adoption plans, ECOWAS will ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within its member states, and it will monitor regional highways quarterly for illegalities in conjunction with governments and civil society groups and publicize findings.

The Chairman of the Planning Committee and Chairman of the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ghana, Wilson Krofa, read the final communique.

He maintained that ECOWAS would enhance the regional investment climate, in that it will rationalize business governance by improving adjudication, harmonizing taxes, strengthening property laws and facilitating business registration, among others.

The communiqué further stated that ECOWAS would create a monetary union for trade facilitation and macro-economic stability in the region by the sensitization of private sector operators and other stakeholders on the status of monetary integration.

ECOWAS has resolved to implement media programs to sensitize the stakeholders on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), particularly on its content, challenges and opportunities for the private sector.

The strategy plan action further stressed the need to enhance the competitiveness of the regional economy by involving the private sector in the design and development of programmes to improve the competitiveness of the regional economy.

It is expected that ECOWAS would ensure access to long-term financing for the private sector by means of taking inventory of difficulties encountered in the search for, and the mobilization of funding and draw up approaches to solutions to be discussed with the banking sector.

ECOWAS, amongst other things, said it would ensure the free flow of capital in the region to promote regional convertibility and cross listing programs and harmonize exchange controls and capital market rules.

In partnership with ECOBANK, the forum was organized by ECOWAS, in collaboration with its donors, including USAID, UBA, UN-ECA, UEMOA Commission, PZ, MTN and the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.