Presidential Research & Communications Unit

I warmly welcome you all to the 36th Ordinary Summit of the Economic Community of West African States which also coincides with the ECOWAS-Spain Summit taking place shortly after our meeting today.

We gather here today at a time of great political and economic challenges for our world and our region. In the face of these challenges, we have an abiding obligation to provide strong and focused leadership within the ambit of ECOWAS. This Summit therefore provides us a platform to collectively interrogate those issues which mediate growth and development within our region and work out sustainable solutions.

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is sad to note that thirty years after the signing of the Protocol on the Free Movement of Goods and Services, we are yet to significantly remove the bottlenecks at our borders which continue to encumber effective economic integration. The reality of the global economic situation today makes it critical for us recommit to investing the relevant protocols with the requisite political will.

Under my chairmanship, the focus will remain on the imperatives of socio¬-political and economic stability, and meaningful integration. In the circumstance, we must re-evaluate the current structure of the ECOWAS Commission in our overall desire to have a Commission that is compact, efficient, effective, and focused on actualizing the vision of its founding fathers for a peaceful and economically prosperous region.

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, we must endeavour to re-direct resources to building regional infrastructures that would enhance trade and drive economic development. It is noteworthy that ECOWAS had set up two committees to specifically look into the issues of energy and infrastructure in our region. It will be recalled that the last G20 meeting in London pledged 100 billion dollars towards infrastructural development in the world’s emerging and developing countries. It is my expectation that we will commence work towards mobilizing the requisite experts to come up with feasibility studies that meet international best standards to enable us access this fund when it becomes operational.

We must commend the efforts of President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire, Chairman of the Committee on Infrastructure, who took the laudable initiative of inviting Ministers of Transportation and Infrastructure to a meeting in Yamoussoukro. I am glad to report that he will be briefing us on the outcome of this meeting and additional developments.

Your Excellencies, we cannot meaningfully anticipate sustainable development without first entrenching peace, stability and security across our region. We especially need to continue to drive the peace process in Guinea Conakry and Guinea Bissau. I have, in conjunction with the ECOWAS Commission in the past few months, dispatched high powered delegations to help mediate the crises in these countries.

We have also waded into potential crisis situations in some other countries with a view to engendering dialogue and peaceful resolution of political differences. I am happy to report that our efforts have yielded positive results, with elections scheduled to hold in Guinea Bissau on the 28th of June, this year, and in Guinea Conakry and Cote d'lvoire later in the year.

We are committed to ensuring the success of the upcoming election in Guinea Bissau. To this end, we have not only decided to provide the gap in funding for the security needs for the election, but we have also decided to effect the payment of three months’ salary arrears for the Armed Forces of Guinea Bissau. In addition, we are also providing vehicles and communication equipment to facilitate a hitch-free electoral process.

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, there is the critical need to entrench political and economic stability in Guinea Bissau. This imperative has informed my decision to convene, very shortly, an international donor round-table on Guinea Bissau in Abuja under my chairmanship.

It is my hope that, collectively, we will do all within our powers to consolidate democracy in West Africa such that conflicts in whatever form will be mitigated if not completely eliminated in our region.

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the issue of illicit drug trafficking with West Africa as a transit route, remains a major challenge to our collective security.
It must be addressed in a holistic manner. I urge all member States to endeavour to implement the provisions of the two declarations endorsed in Praia, Cape Verde in October 2008 and adopted during our last Ordinary Summit in December, 2008.

I must commend the committed efforts of Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the President of the Commission to ensuring that ECOWAS remains a functional and effective organization.

I would like to conclude by reiterating that we as leaders, must steadfastly demonstrate unwavering resolve and focused leadership in the face of the sundry challenges that our region is faced with. It is only then that we can earn the unstinting support of our peoples, and productive support from our development partners and the international community.

While wishing us all very fruitful deliberations and a successful Forum, I wish to formally declare the 36th Ordinary Summit of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government open.

Thank you.