ECOWAS AND THE UNITED NATIONS TO STRENGTHEN POLITICAL COOPERATION, SECURITY, AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT TIES

Abuja, Nigeria, January 10, 2025

 The President of the ECOWAS Commission H.E Omar Alieu Touray conferred with the Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) of the United Nations (UN), H.E Amina Mohammed on the 10^th of January, 2025 in Abuja, Nigeria, in a bid to strengthen existing bilateral ties between the two entities.

Areas adjudged critical for deepened engagement were also identified during the visit, to include political cooperation, peace and security, trade liberalisation, education,  regional integration and cohesion as well as human development.

Addressing SDG Mohammed and her team, President Touray said the prevailing political atmosphere in West Africa makes counter terrorism a key area of collaboration between the two organisations stressing in this regard that the Commission is working towards ensuring that the UN Security Council Resolution 2719 (on the funding of the AU peace and security budget) is not compromised, and thus becoming another moribund decision.

He also brought DSG Mohammed up to speed with the measured response by ECOWAS to the decision by the three ECOWAS nations of Burkina, Faso, Mali and Niger to withdraw their membership from the regional bloc. Both parties also briefly examined the immediate and long term implications of the move especially as it affects trade relations.

Responding, DSG Mohammed spoke to a number of cross-cutting issues, the engagement mandates of the UN such as the financial systems architecture as well as how to improve the investment environment, food security and agricultural adaptation, stable financing, a fit for purpose public service, among others.

She also identified critical gaps of human development such as between policy and regulations, stressing the need to upgrade the energy sector so that Small and medium scale enterprises can thrive.

ident Toure was flanked during the discussions, by the ECOWAS Director Free Movement Dr. Tony Elumelu, his Trade counterpart, Dr. Kola Fofola, the Head of Division, Peace Support Operations Division (PSOD) Dr. Sani Adamu as well as Dr. Babatunde Idowu of the Directorate of External Relations. The team provided updates of relevant community’s integration strides including the progress made so far with the instrumentality of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA).

At the concluding joint briefing, President Toure emphasized the need to build on the longstanding relationship between ECOWAS and the UN by strengthening the collaboration with the latter’s agencies. He stressed the need for a strong partnership between ECOWAS and the UN and noted in this regard: “These areas that we have mentioned such as peace and security, humanitarian, economic development. These are important areas for us. We must put a lot of emphasis on human development, education, and agriculture including food security…”

On her part, the DSG stated: “With the visit, we see what the priorities are, how we can consolidate on the work that we have done together last year, looking to this year we have many challenges, on different fronts, the Sahel, the regional complexities, debt and economy, and also the geo-political tensions. It has been a thorough discussion of the opportunities that we have, to continue to work together.”

The parley with DSG Amina Mohammed was the first high-level visit to the ECOWAS Commission in year 2025.