The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Marcel A. de Souza and Dr. Banda Al-Hajjar, President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) recently met in Washington on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, to take stock of the progress of cooperation between the two institutions.
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the support and expertise of the Bank for the funding of the Community Development Program (CDP) Round Table and support for the establishment of a regional capacity building center for ECOWAS institutions and Member States in Lomé, Togo were the main points discussed by the two Heads of Institution.
The President of the ECOWAS Commission recalled that the implementation of priority projects selected for the Round Table planned for March 2017 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, will not only improve intra-regional trade, which level is currently estimated at 12%, but also to increase energy supply and fight against food insecurity and pandemics. The Bank has indicated its interest to support ECOWAS in the implementation of selected projects that contribute to job creation and the fight against poverty.
The President of the ECOWAS Commission congratulates, Dr. Banda Al-Hajjar for his nomination as head of the Islamic Development Bank and for the multifaceted support provided by IDB to ECOWAS member states.
Note that Mr. Mamadou Traoré, Commissioner for Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research, Mr. Koné Tanou, Permanent Representative of ECOWAS in New York and Mr. Lassané Kaboré, Director Multilateral Surveillance, took part at the meeting.