Kufuor To Attend ECOWAS Summit In Abuja

ECOWAS Chairman President John Agyekum Kufuor left Accra this afternoon for Abuja, Nigeria, to attend a day's Extraordinary Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Governments and the inauguration of President Olusegun Obasanjo for a second term.

The Summit, which opens tomorrow would consider the approval for the draft ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) declaration on the establishment of the proposed ECOWAS Rapid Deployment Force. Mr Kwabena Agyepong, Press Secretary to the President, told the Presidential Press Corps at the Castle, Osu that the meeting would also discuss the adoption of the strategic approach to the funding of peace and security issues in the Sub-Region. He said the Defence and Security Commission of ECOWAS have recommended the expansion of the current force in Cote d'Ivoire from 1,300 to 3,000 as a result of the redefined mandate of the ECOFORCE.

Mr Agyepong, who is also the Presidential Spokesman, said President Kufuor would preside over the formal opening of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon, he would attend a meeting of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Implementation Committee formed by 12 Heads of State and Governments before participating in the Summit. He said President Kufuor, who has been officially invited as the Special Guest of Honour at the inauguration of the second term of office of Nigerian President Obasanjo on Thursday, would also deliver a public lecture organised as part of the inaugural ceremony. Mr Agyepong said President Kufuor and President Obasanjo would hold bilateral talks on Thursday.

The President will return home on Friday. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Minister of Regional Integration and NEPAD, Mrs Angela L. Ofori-Atta, Deputy Minister of Employment and Manpower Development and Mrs Mercy Bampoe-Addo, Minister of State at the Office of the President would accompany him.