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Sub-regional economic bodies in Africa have begun discussions in Accra on how best to coordinate their efforts to promote sustainable development on the continent.
The meeting, held last Saturday, was under the auspices of the Inter-Regional Economic Communities (RECs), a platform of all RECs in Africa which seeks to coordinate activities of critical issues such as security, institutional reforms, movement of people and goods, economic development and funding of developmental initiatives.
It was hosted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which currently chairs the inter-RECs platform and attended by the other seven RECs in Africa -- the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Community of Sahel and Saharan states (CEN–SAD), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, said the idea of an inter-RECs platform became a reality following the signing of declaration by all the RECs on July 15, 2023, in Nairobi, Kenya.
“This is historic because it signifies our commitment to foster cooperation between the RECs and put coordination at the heart of our engagement with ourselves and with the African Union.
“It is a dynamic mechanism which gives the RECs an opportunity to be fully integrated into the AU Coordination Committee and the mid-year coordination meeting,” he said.
Mr Touray said when ECOWAS took over the chairmanship of the platform in February this year, it decided to focus on unity, innovation, sharing of best practice and leave a legacy that would help the platform have a positive impact on future generations.
“Over the past five months, our engagement with other RECs and the AU has been guided by these principles. We have been working tirelessly to strengthen the ties between our RECs and foster an environment of mutual understanding and cooperation, which has resulted in more efficient and effective coordination of our activities,” he added.
The ceremony was also used to launch the official website of the inter-RECs coordination platform. The Director of External Affairs of ECOWAS, Jerome Boa, said the objective of the website was to foster coordination of activities of the platform by giving it the necessary visibility.
He said the website contained information on the activities of the coordination platform, as well as a link to all the respective websites of the RECs.
“All final communiques and important documents could be accessed through this platform, as well as our flagship projects. “It will help us to mobilise resources and also help our work,” Mr Boa added.
