The work of the ninth meeting of the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) ECOWAS-WAEMU ended Friday, November 23, 2012 in Abuja, the Headquarters of the ECOWAS Commission, after a week of intense activities.
The work was carried out in three stages, the Meeting of Experts of the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS), ECOWAS-WAEMU the meeting of the Commissioners in charge of Issues of convergence and finally the meeting of the Presidents of the two institutions.
The ninth meeting of the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) ECOWAS-WAEMU took place in a new context marked by cordiality, professionalism and accountability.
This favorable environment has enabled experts to achieve progress on many
projects including the common programme of Technical and Financial Support to
Guinea-Bissau, the revitalization of the regional strategy for poverty reduction, convergence in agriculture , transport facilitation and checkpoints, joint border posts, the institutional arrangement of cooperation and partnership between ECOWAS and WAEMU, Protocol of Agreement on Cooperation and Partnership between the West
African Inter Governmental Organizations, the state of implementation of RIP,
the timely preparation of the 11th EDF RIP, progress in the EPA negotiations,
the relationship between Community Development Programme and the ECOWAS –WAEMU Regional Economic Programme, Telecommunications and ICT, and finally the ECOWAS CET.
Following discussions by the experts and Commissioners, selected proposals were submitted to the attention of the President of ECOWAS, His Excellency. Mr. Kadré Désiré
Ouedraogo and WAEMU, His Excellency. Mr. Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré.
Both presidents have carefully considered the recommendations and made
improvements in some areas. They then proceeded to the official signing of the
Memorandum of Agreement on Institutional Arrangements of the Agreement for
Cooperation and Partnership between ECOWAS and WAEMU. The new text proposed by
the Legal services of both organizations made a clear distinction between
Institutional and operational levels. It involves cooperation among the Heads
of Institution and the Commissioners and clarifies the responsibilities of the
JTS Experts, Coordinators and Focal Points.
The work of the ninth meeting of the JTS ended with an emotional closing ceremony during which the Heads of the two Institutions, His. Excellency. Mr. Kadré Désiré
Ouedraogo of ECOWAS and, His Excellency. Mr. Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré of WAEMU
reiterated their strong commitment to regional integration, pooling efforts, peace, growth and development in West Africa.