Akufo-Addo to participate in ECOWAS Summit today

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is attending the 51st Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Monrovia, Liberia, on June 4, 2017.

President Akufo-Addo, who would be joining his counterparts at the regional meeting for the first time as Head of Government, would bolster Ghana’s commitment to the Community’s project, especially integration, the common currency and trade liberalization.

As the leaders meet, high on their agenda would be the political, economic and security concerns besetting the sub-region, particularly the approaches to achieving the regional economic integration agenda and right-tracking West Africa’s development planning.

They will consider the application for membership by Morocco, request by Tunisia for observer status, as well as the Association Agreement between Mauritania and the Community.

The meeting would also consider series of reports, particularly that of the ECOWAS mid-year statutory meetings that that took place before the summit, including reports by the Ad-Hoc Ministerial Committee on Institutional Reforms and End of Tenure of Statutory Appointees; 78th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers; 38th Ordinary Meeting of the Mediation and Security Council and the 2017 Interim Report of ECOWAS.

Also high on the agenda would be the election of a new Chair of the Authority to replace the Liberia’s Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, whose tenure as president ends this year. The meeting would decide on a date and venue for the 52nd summit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Moroccan King Mohammed V1 are expected to attend the meeting.

The meeting is the first to be hosted by Liberia since the inception of the ECOWAS 42 years ago.

As at 1800 hours on Saturday, June 3, 2017, some heads of state had arrived at the Farmington Hotel, near the Roberts International Airport, the venue of the meeting, for the climax of the Summit that commenced on June 1, 2017.