Ghana celebrates ECOWAS Day

Accra, May 29, GNA - Ghana on Wednesday said over the last 30 years ECOWAS has achieved successes and that the West African regional economy experienced an increase in GDP from 141.9 billion dollars in 2005 to 170.1 billion in 2006, rising to 199.1 billion in 2007.

The regional GDP is projected to 232.7 billion in 2008 and prospects for the region appear favourable in 2008.

An official statement the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD to mark the 33 anniversary of ECOWAS which fell on Wednesday said the positive economic outlook for the region were improved macro-economic management, improving governance and security situation in Members States.

It said the current global food crisis has however, had budgetary implications on the regional economy.

Nevertheless, the ECOWAS Commission and the 15-Member States are embarking upon policy measures to address the food crisis which could have severe socio-economic implications on the Community.

As a short-term measure, Agriculture Ministers meeting in Abuja Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 19 2008, decided on the need to invest four billion dollars between 2008 - 2010 to boost productivity. It said, "As a long-term measure, Member States have agreed to improve their budget allocation to agriculture, invest in local fertilizer production and subsidize agricultural production. The provisions of the Common ECOWAS Agricultural policy (ECOWAP) will also be implemented."

In the Energy sector, ECOWAS has made progress in the implementation of the West African Gas Pipeline and the West African Gas Pipeline primarily for electricity generation and other industrial uses will soon commence operation and provisions have been effected to extend the pipeline to other countries within the sub-region.

With regard to Free Movement of Persons, the ECOWAS Commission has intensified its efforts to sensitize Member States of a provision under this Protocol. The statement said that would help address the incidents of harassment along the boarders as well as promote the use of the ECOWAS Passport.

Thus the theme for this year celebration which is the "Free Movement of Persons without harassment" was very likely and significant considering the important role Free Movement played in the process of integration.

The statement said the security situation in the region has improved and joint efforts by ECOWAS and Member States in promoting dialogue, preventive diplomacy and peace building were clearly yielding positive results as evidenced by the steadily improving security environment within the sub-region.

"Democratization and electoral processes have also become the norm in the sub-region; with the year 2007 marking a successful year for Presidential and Parliamentary elections in West Africa." It urged the ECOWAS Commission to continue with its work in the promotion of democracy, good governance and rule of law. Despite the achievement of ECOWAS, it acknowledged that more remained to be done to remove the many barriers that impact on the free movement of Goods, persons and services across Ecowas common borders. The statement pledged Ghana's continued playing her part to make the visions of ECOWAS come into fruition.