Inter-regional cooperation: on a study visit to ECOWAS, a WAEMU delega-tion was granted an audience with the President of the ECOWAS Commis-sion.

His Excellency Dr Alieu Omar TOURAY, President of the ECOWAS Commission was received in audience on 11 June 2024 in Abuja at the headquarters of the ECOWAS Commission in Nigeria, a delegation from the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) who were visiting the ECOWAS Directorate of External Relations and its Unit in charge of coordinating the projects of ECOWAS Development Partners (EDPCC) as part of the UEMOA study visit.

At the beginning of the session, Mr. Arnaud Cédric KIEMA, Director of UEMOA Cooperation, thanked the ECOWAS Commission and its President for this for the warm reception. He added that this mission will make it possible to strengthen the coordination of the tripartite mechanism ECOWAS, UEMOA and partners and will serve to share experience with ECOWAS on the creation of its Development Partners Coordination Unit linked to the Directorate of External Relations.

H.E. Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission welcomed the UEMOA delegation and recalled the important role of UEMOA in the implementation of the regional   integration agenda. He also congratulated the establishment of ECOWAS – UEMOA coordination mechanisms with regard to partner projects for good inter-institutional collaboration.

At the end of his remarks, he recalled the necessity of a good continuation of these coordination mechanisms for a good monitoring of the development instruments of partners such as the NDICI (Neighborhood, Development and International Cooperation instrument) of the European Union and wished a good mission to the delegation.

This study mission, which takes place from June 11 to 13, will allow the sharing of experiences and good practices between the structures of the two institutions in order to better coordinate and implement programs financed with external resources. It will also allow discussion on the opportunity and modalities of setting up a coordination mechanism with the national structures responsible for coordinating and monitoring the implementation of operations using external resources, replacing the Network West African support units for national authorizing officers of the European Development Fund (ROAC-FED); define the contours and methodology of the capitalization and consolidation workshop planned for July 2024 relating to the programs financed under the EDF; ensure the consolidation and collection of documents produced as part of the implementation of the 10th and 11th EDF PIRs at the level of the two Commissions.