ECOWAS, World Bank to hold second tripartite meeting

The World Bank Group, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) on Tuesday, begun a two-day Tripartite Meeting in Accra to deliberate on issues pertinent to the socio-economic development of the ECOWAS Sub-region.

The meeting will review the status of implementation of the Abidjan Action Plan, which was agreed during their first meeting on July 2013, in Abidjan, and also deal with a number of thematic areas, including Ebola, Agriculture, Regional Infrastructure and Cross Border Management.

Mr Colin Bruce, the World Bank Africa Region’s Director responsible for Regional Integration, said given the debilitating effect of Ebola on the sub-region, the bodies will spend ample time deliberating on how to mitigate impacts, particularly on the three countries most affected.

“We would also look at how to adjust our priorities to reflect changes in the sub-region and in the World more broadly”, he added.

Mr Bruce noted that the bodies have made considerable progress in implementing their ambitious joint plan in key priority areas of agriculture, education, trade and trade facilitation, transport, regional investment, climate and the Sahel.

He said he hopes to see fruitful discussions that will identify few transformational priorities, work programmes, timeliness and division of responsibilities during the next phase of the partnership.

Mr Kabre Desire Ouedraogo, President of the ECOWAS Commission said they look forward to deepening the collaboration between the World Bank Group, the ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions in addressing issues of common developmental interest to the sub-region.