ECOWAS or the Economic Community of West African States is an intergovernmental organization created in 1975 and brings together sixteen countries with six founding members (Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone) with the objective of promoting cooperation between these countries and creating a West African economic and monetary alliance. Although initially its role was purely economic, ECOWAS soon became interested in peacekeeping, which is an essential condition for an alliance to come into being.
The main institutions
ECOWAS is composed of seven main institutions, the conference of heads of state, the council of ministers, the community parliament, the economic and social council, the court of justice, the health organization and the commission that replaced the secretariat. President Faure Gnassingbe assumed the presidency of the organization for the year 2017-2018 followed by the Nigerian Head of State Muhammadu Buhari and then Mahamadou Issoufou who currently holds the presidency.
The issue of the single currency
The ECOWAS bloc has spent the last three decades aspiring to establish a single currency for its member states. It aims to increase economic integration and regional trade. Its leaders have adopted the name of the currency the ECO and plan to launch it in 2020. But member countries have yet to meet the criteria; to achieve single-digit inflation, a deficit of less than 3% of their GDP and a debt profile of less than 70% of their GDP.
However, French-speaking countries have already decided to move forward by changing the name of the CFA franc. Francophone countries needed to take this decision to free their currencies from French interference. While they have embarked on the road to economic recovery, they are now at the forefront in terms of the macroeconomic management of their economies. They have had no control over the monetary policy of their currencies since 1945, so for them this is an achievement.
The fight against terrorism
Together with Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe, ECOWAS Heads of State give their full support to the fight against terrorism in the region. They call for the involvement of all social strata and the pooling of all available intelligence to overcome the terrorist threat. The $1 billion ECOWAS plan of action to combat terrorism was adopted at the extraordinary summit held in Abuja and will help to strengthen the capacities of the region’s armed forces. It will complement the actions of the G5 Sahel and the international community.
The summit underlined the commitment of all West African Heads of State to the establishment of an investment bank, to the strengthening of security in ECOWAS and to the development of economic, social, health and education infrastructures.
