IGAD Suceeds ECOWAS As Head Of Coordinatio Platform For Africa Regional Communities

At the end of the 6th meeting of the Coordination and Collaboration Platform of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) from all over Africa which was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, H.E Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission officially handed over to H.E. Workneh Gebeheyu, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The 6th meeting of the Platform was attended by the Presidents and Chief Executives of all the Regional Economic Communities, including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the East African Community (EAC), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

A statement by ECOWAS on Monday said that several points were discussed during this session organized by the ECOWAS External Relations Directorate, including the status of implementation of the recommendations from the RECs meeting held on July 20, 2024 in Accra, Ghana, the presentation, discussions and adoption of the document on the position of the RECs in their cooperation relationship with the African Union, the issue of resource mobilization and the handover to the new President, coordinator of the Inter-RECs platform.

In his closing remarks, Dr Touray reviewed ECOWAS’ record at the helm of the Inter-RECs platform.

“Since February 2024, we have witnessed remarkable progress in promoting regional integration, cooperation and development across our Member States. Through our collective commitment and unwavering dedication, we have strengthened the bonds that unite us and worked tirelessly to address some of the challenges facing our various regions and the African continent as a whole.

“Our journey has been defined by resilience, collaboration and the unwavering pursuit of a shared vision of prosperity and peace for all our peoples,” he said.

He did not forget to mention that through the mandate of ECOWAS, the platform completed and signed the rules of procedure on the sidelines of the 6th biannual coordination meeting in Accra in July 2024, and launched the inter-REC website to promote the activities of the platform.

During his mandate, ECOWAS also deepened inter-REC collaboration and experience sharing, by receiving in Abuja, a high-level delegation from three other RECs, namely: the East African Community (EAC), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).

In the spirit of solidarity and community, IGAD also hosted the ECOWAS delegation in November 2024 as part of the AU-ECOWAS-IGAD benchmarking exercise on human mobility in the context of climate change; and the ECOWAS delegation visited SADC in November 2024 to understand and learn the secrets of its success in the EU pillar assessment.

Also taking part in the work of this meeting were Commissioner Abdel Fatau MUSAH in charge of Political Affairs, Peace and Security of ECOWAS, the Hon. Abdou KOLLEY, Director of Cabinet of the President of the Commission, Mr. Cyriaque AGNEKETHOM, Director of Peace and Security of ECOWAS, Mr. Jérôme BOA, Director of External Relations of ECOWAS and other technical executives of the ECOWAS Commission.