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| West African leaders to hold mid-year summit
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Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) -
West African leaders will gather in Nigeria's capital ci
ty of Abuja for a one-day summit on Monday to deliberate on recent developments
i
n the sub-region, particularly the situations in
Guinea, Guinea Bissau and Niger.
The 36th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS will also approve
the expansion to five bands of the tariff regime for West Africa, which will se
e
the Common External Tariff (CET) for the region
increase from the four band approved by the leaders in January 2006 to include a
fifth band of 35 per cent for certain categories of goods.
A statement from the Abuja-based ECOWAS Commission said the new regime was part
of the process of
harmonizing the CET structure in West Africa, in the build-up to the creation of
a common market.
Under the 2006 structure, member states were required to maintain a four-band ta
riff regime of between 0 per cent
and 20 per cent for goods imported into the region from non-ECOWAS member states
.
The summit will also approve the regional Labour and Employment Policy and Plan
of Action. The policy revolves
around seven core issues, including the labour and employment vision for the reg
ion, the scope of its application,
objectives, guiding principles, framework for its operationalization, areas of i
ntervention and process of
implementation.
''It is supported by a plan of action that seeks to pursue five priority program
mes over four years, including the pursuit
of international labour and employment norms, promotion of decent work, social s
ecurity for all, promotion of social
dialogue as well as regional integration,'' the Commission said.
It said the mid-year summit would also consider the report of the 62nd session o
f the Council of Ministers that ended in
Abuja on 27 May 2009 and which discussed the issues of the negotiation of the Ec
onomic Partnership Agreement (EPA)
between ECOWAS and the European Union, the harmonization of the Value Added Tax
(VAT) legislation in member
states and another on the guiding principles and policies for the mining sector.
They will also discuss the impact of the global economic and financial crises on
the region and give directives on measures
to mitigate its effects on the economies of member states.
The summit will also consider the 2009 interim report of the President of the Co
mmission, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, which
provides a synopsis of the various activities and programmes of the ECOWAS Commi
ssion and institutions of the
Community.
Billed to coincide with the regional summit is a special ECOWAS-Spain summit, to
be attended by the
Prime Minister of Spain, Mr. Jose Zapatero.
During the special summit, there will be various presentations by Presidents Bla
ise Compaore of Burkina Faso, Ellen Johnson-
Sirleaf of Liberia, Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire and the Prime Minister of Ca
pe Verde, Mr. Jose Maria Neves.
The regional summit will be preceded by that of the Heads of State and Governmen
t of member states of the West African Monetary
Zone (WAMZ), the five countries working towards the creation of second currency
as a precursor to the emergence of a single regional
currency.
The summit will review the road map recently approved by their ministers of fina
nce and governors of central bank for the creation of their currency.
The map outlines activities to be undertaken ahead of the new date, including th
e review and harmonization of the convergence criteria, the
harmonization of statistics and domestic policies as well as the legal, accounti
ng and statistical frameworks of public
finance.
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| Abuja - 18/06/2009 |
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