Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The reigning ECOWAS Peace Ambassador, Ms Hyeladzirra “Zirra” Banu, has called on ECOWAS governments and institutions to empower and create more opportunities for the youth as part of efforts to promote peace and stability and facilitate the region’s development.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS and America’s General Electric (GE) Corporation are to explore areas of cooperation, including in energy projects and infrastructure development, to boost regional trade integration, PANA reported Friday, quoting a press statement from the ECOWAS Commission. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The 12,800-strong UN stabilization force which is to replace the African-led Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) should be commanded by a West African, in recognition of the region's track record, a sub-committee of the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) has proposed.Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - ECOWAS member states have been urged to establish a mechanism for monitoring and evaluating the efficacy of their National Youth Employment Plans in responding to the youth employment challenges facing the region. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, has sent a condolence message to Nigeria’s President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, over the death of two Nigerian Air Force fighter-jet pilots who died while providing support to the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA). Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS and the international community have made irreversible progress in Mali by freeing the north of the country from the grip of terrorists and securing its territorial integrity, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, has affirmed. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The modalities for the transformation of the Africa-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) into a UN Mission will be discussed at a two-day meeting of the sub-Committee of the ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS), opening in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on Saturday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Stakeholders have called for uninterrupted funding for and sustainability of ECOWAS peace support initiatives, especially the resettlement and rehabilitation of thousands of conflict-displaced persons in the region, according to an ECOWAS press statement, received here Tuesday by PANA. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - West Africa’s human rights institutions have called for the prosecution of human rights violations at the Community Court of Justice. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Participants at a just-ended stakeholders’ forum in Monrovia, Liberia, have lauded the multi-million-dollar donor support to the ECOWAS for Peace and Development Project (PADEP) for promoting the culture of peace, integration and providing vital humanitarian assistance to populations displaced by conflicts in the region. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Justifying its involvement in the crisis in Mali, the West African sub-regional bloc, ECOWAS, attributed the current global interest in the country to the untiring efforts of West African leaders. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - A road map that will ultimately result in the adoption of a Supplementary Act to enhance the powers of the ECOWAS Parliament has been adopted at a multi-disciplinary meeting of experts which ended in Accra, Ghana, at the weekend. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS Ministers of Works/Road Infrastructure, Transport, Finance and Justice from Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo, rose from a one-day meeting here Monday, agreeing on an implementation plan for the construction of a proposed highway linking Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, to Lagos, Nigeria. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Electoral Assistance Division of the ECOWAS Commission has been presented with a database that will house records of all professionals in the region in the areas of Election monitoring and evaluation.Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Ghana's Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Ms Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, has tasked experts charged with developing a mechanism for wider powers of the ECOWAS Parliament to come up with concrete proposals that will enable the institution influence community legal instruments. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - A three-day international workshop is underway in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the implementation of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) and private sector financing of infrastructure in the continent, according to an official statement, received here by PANA. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS has announced plans to deploy 40 volunteers to Sierra Leone to support the country’s health and education sectors, according to a statement issued here Monday by the West African regional bloc. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A four-day meeting of regional experts on education of girls and other vulnerable children is scheduled to start on Tuesday in Banjul, the capital of Gambia, under the auspices of the ECOWAS Girls’ education Programme. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Sweden is to provide US$6.7 million over four years to support West Africa's programme to reduce the region’s vulnerability to climate change. Full text...

Port Harcourt, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS and its partners have achieved another milestone in their stride towards the elimination of malaria in the region with the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a biolarvicides factory in Port Harcourt, capital of Nigeria’s south east Rivers State, according to a statement from the sub-region al bloc. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Redeeming the pledge it made during a donor's conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopa, in January, the European Union (EU) has given ECOWAS a 76-million-euro grant to support the African-led International Mission in Mali (AFISMA), and to strengthen the implementation of the regional protocol on free intra-community movement of citizens. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – The first batch of a dozen human rights observers has been deployed in Mali in line with a decision by the African Union Peace and Security Council and ECOWAS to deploy some 50 observers under the banner the International Support Mission for Mali (AFISMA), official sources told PANA here Tuesday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, has praised the government of the United Kingdom for its contributions to the success of West Africa’s integration project, including its ongoing training assistance to the armed forces of Mali to bolster their capacity to discharge their mandate. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The annual Co-ordination meeting between ECOWAS and its Development Partners will take place on 8 Monday at the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, the Nigerian capital city, to discuss the status of the region's integration projects and the ongoing efforts at institutional reforms in order to improve the performance of the Commission. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - West Africa’s Chief Veterinary Officers have agreed on harmonised standards for key areas in animal health, to be presented to African delegates at the April 2013 meeting of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to be held first in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, followed in May by the organisation’s General Assembly to be held in Paris, France. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS has asked the US for assistance for the planned summit of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, due to hold next month in Yaoundé, Cameroun. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, has reiterated ECOWAS’ commitment to support peace initiatives by any member state, which is consistent with the regional peace and security framework. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Japan has donated US$44, 800 to ECOWAS in support of the ECOWAS Mission in Guinea Bissau (ECOMIB), the ECOWAS Commission announced Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The regional bloc Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is working with stakeholders to improve access to energy in the region, which is currently under 50 percent, the ECOWAS Commission said in a statement obtained by PANA here Wednesday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS defence chiefs have called for an effective cooperation and coordination to ensure a seamless transformation of the African-led International Mission in Mali (AFISMA) into a UN field operation. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigerian President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, on Tuesday challenged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission not to limit its activities and energies to economic cooperation only, but also strengthen its regional political stability role. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS Commission President Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo has hailed Cape Verde as a beacon of hope for democracy, judging by its successive transparent, free and fair elections. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Chairman of ECOWAS Committee of Chief of Defence Staff (CCDS), Gen. Soumaila Babayoko, has called for intensified and sustained international support to rid Mali of terrorism and criminality which are threatening not only the country but the region and the rest of the world. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The 15-member West African regional bloc ECOWAS has moved closer to a customs union with the endorsement, by regional ministers of finance, of a new region wide tariff regime for West Africa, the ECOWAS Commission has announced. Full text...

Freetown, Sierra Leone (PANA) - ECOWAS cannot afford to divorce development from peace and stability as they are essential for Community development, given the dynamics of recurrent security challenges in the region, the Vice-President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Togo Gayewea McIntosh, has said. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on Friday urged stakeholders to support a draft Act for the enhancement of the legislative powers of the institution to enable it serve the Community better and in accordance with international best practices, according to an ECOWAS press statement, received here by PANA. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, has called for proposals from stakeholders aimed at improving communication and cooperation for coordinated implementation of regional programmes in Member States. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - An inter-ministerial conference of ECOWAS and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea will be held in Cotonou, Benin Republic, on 19 March, 2013, according to a statement from the ECOWAS Commission here.Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region has decided to honour ECOWAS by naming the main hall of an International Conference Centre now under construction in the capital city of Uyo after ECOWAS, as a tribute to the organisation for promoting integration, peace and stability in the region. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Heads of ECOWAS National Units, Civil Society and Immigration officials have recommended the abolition of two key provisions of the regional Protocol on free movement of persons, according to an ECOWAS Commission press statement, obtained here by PANA Wednesday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - A Select Committee of the ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff met in Bamako last Friday to consider procedures for the transformation of the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) into a United Nations operation, according to a statement from the ECOWAS Commission here Tuesday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS has expressed deep shock and sadness over the sudden death of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, according to an ECOWAS press statement, obtained here Saturday by PANA. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - ECOWAS and the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) are set to launch a trade facilitation support project to address the barriers militating against intra-community trade to enable the region realise its full trade potentials and benefits.Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Members of the ECOWAS Strategic Planning and Coordination Committee (SPCC) began a three-day meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Monday to finalise the Risk Management aspect of the Regional Medium Term Action Area (RMTAA). Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The ceremonial breaking of the ground to formally begin the construction of the three factories which will produce biolarvicides under the West African regional Malaria Elimination Campaign Programme took place in Abidjan Thursday, just as the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government were rounding off their 42nd Ordinary Summit. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, has pledged that he will continue to work with his Ivorian counterpart, Alassane Ouattara, and other ECOWAS leaders to achieve greater peace, security, political stability and economic prosperity in the West African sub-region.Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS has renewed the mandate of the Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara, as the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government for another one year.Full text...

Niamey, Niger (PANA) - The Nigerien head of state, Mahamadou Issoufou, left Niamey Wednesday for Cote d'Ivoire where he will attend the ECOWAS Summit, according to local Nigerien media. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - West African experts who attended a three-day meeting here have recommended a comprehensive review of the market access offer to the European Union (EU) to break the deadlock between the two parties in the negotiations of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) for the creation of a free trade area between them Full text...

Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) - The 42nd Ordinary Summit of ECOWAS was due to open in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, Wednesday to discuss regional peace and security issues, including the situations in Mali and Guinea-Bissau, among others. Full text...