Mr. Komi Sélom Klassou, Prime Minister of Togo chaired June 23, 2016, in Lome, the third meeting of the Strategic Orientation Committee (SOC) in presence of Mr. Marcel A. de Souza, President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Soumare Cheikhe Hadjibou, President of the UEMOA Commission, Carla Montesi, Director for West and Central Africa of the European Commission and Hans-Peter Schadek Director the European External Action Service.
This third meeting, which was also attended by the National Authorising Officers of ECOWAS Member States, helped to review the status of implementation of projects and programs registered within the Regional Indicative Programme under the 10th EDF in execution and 11th EDF RIP in preparation.
Following exchanges between the parties, it appeared that the commitment by the European Union of 595 million Euros for the RIP 10th EDF was effective. However, only 67% of the allocated funds have been contracted to date and only 40% could be paid because of the delay in the implementation of certain projects and programs. Thus, the SOC has asked stakeholders to implement as quickly as possible the Regional Organizations capacity building program, while ensuring better implementation arrangements particularly in the governance of regional programs. The meeting also requested to make efforts to improve visibility in regional integration and information management, including that relating to the programs entrusted to executive agencies.
SOC welcomed the progress made in the identification and formulation process of some projects and approved the start of the Project “Police Information System of West Africa” and the draft “Support for the fight against illegal fishing, surveillance and coordination in West Africa.” It recommended the funding of biometric component (fingerprints) on the Sahel Trust Fund and instructed the technical services of the EU, ECOWAS and WAEMU to ensure that the criminal information exchange between regional security services, as provided in the project, to be effective as soon as possible given the current security challenges in the region.
The SOC noted the low involvement of regional organizations in the formulation of projects by financial institutions. Accordingly, it recommends regular information of Regional Organizations on the projects presented by Financial Institutions.
The SOC also noted the progress of the implementation of the Trust Fund, including the activities of the Operational Committee, responsible for the selection of eligible projects. At this stage 36 projects were approved for all countries of the Sahel and Lake Chad with a total envelope of 529 million Euros.