Monrovia, Liberia (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has hailed the 11 Oct. presidential and legislative polls in Liberia, saying it was largely free, fair and devoid of acts of violence. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS Commission President James Victor Gbeho has called Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Head of the 150-member ECOWAS Election Observation Mission to Liberia, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said he is optimistic that the country’s 11 October presidential and legislative polls will be successful. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The President of Nigeria and Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Goodluck Jonathan, said Saturday that his vision was to make the people of the sub-region act as one family. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - More encomiums have continued to pour in for the three women winners of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winners, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Roberta Gbowee, and Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Experts from ECOWAS member states have called on countries in the region to integrate environmental, socio-economic and political sustainability in their national policies, as a way of reinvigorating regional commitment to sustainable development. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - West African defence chiefs have called for the deployment of additional police personnel to reinforce Liberia's national police ahead of the 10 Oct presidential and legislative polls, according to a communique issued after a meeting of the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) opened a two-day meeting in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, Tuesday to consider the recommendations of an extraordinary meeting of the defence chiefs regarding the region’s response to the security situation along the common border between Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia and the general security situation in the region. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS Commission President James Victor Gbeho has appointed Ambassador Oluwole Coker as his Special Representative to Cote d’Ivoire, the commission said in a statement obtained by PANA here Tuesday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - A two-day consultative meeting to consider the report on the review of progress on Sustainable Development in West Africa was billed to open in Accra, Ghana, on Tuesday (27 September). Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS has condoled with Cape Verde over the death of the country's first President, Aristides Maria Pereira, on 21 September. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Ghana's Trade and Industries Minister Hanna Tetteh has urged participants at the just-concluded second ECOWAS Investment Forum in Nigeria to begin the full implementation of the decisions reached at the forum, as soon as they returned home. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Members of the sub-regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have been urged to focus on improving the living condition of their (almost 300 million) population by providing the enabling environment for rapid economic growths. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Participants at the on-going second ECOWAS Investment Forum in the Nigerian commercial city of Lagos, have stressed the need for peace, security, good legislation and respect for protocols to be agreed upon, as prerequisite for attracting the much-needed Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into the continent. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday called on ECOWAS member states to intensify efforts at removing all barriers to investment in the sub-region. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The 2nd ECOWAS Investment Forum opened in Lagos Thursday, with participants drawn from the 15 member states of the regional bloc. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - A one-day ECOWAS mini-summit in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, agreed Saturday to send a delegation to the UN headquarters in New York on the need for the two to collaborate in enhancing security along the border between Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Stakeholders have agreed a three-year capacity building plan for the effective participation of National Units and Community institutions in the ECOWAS mechanism for the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of regional integration programmes, the ECOWAS Commission said in a statement obtained by PANA here Monday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian Non-Governmental Organization Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged the Nigerian government to the ECOWAS Court of Justice in the capital city of Abuja over alleged “unlawful suspension of Justice Ayo Salami as President of the Court of Appeal (PCA) by President Goodluck Jonathan.” Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - To improve efficiency and service delivery to satisfy the yearnings of Community citizens and in line with best professional practices, ECOWAS is putting in place the necessary mechanisms, according to ECOWAS Commission Vice President Jean de Dieu Somda. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission has called on Member States to intensify measures to implement Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) agreed by developing countries to reduce the negative impacts of global climate change. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A three-day capacity building workshop to develop and implement relevant measures by ECOWAS member states, for direct access of funds and status of international negotiations on Climate Change, will start in Accra, Ghana, Wednesday, the ECOWAS Commission said in a statement issued in Abuja, Nigeria, MondayFull text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission has called for a new era of partnerships between the region's public and private sectors to enable each to efficiently deliver vital and complementary services to the citizens, particularly in infrastructure development. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo has said that his country's decision to save the sixth ECOWAS Trade Fair, by hosting it, is further demonstration of its commitment to the region’s integration project. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission is to send a team of experts to Cote d'Ivoire in October to assist the country in working out details of projects to be funded by China under the framework of the existing agreement between the regional organization and Beijing. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission has proposed a road map to address the post-conflict challenges faced by Cote d'Ivoire, which includes restoration of peace and security, repatriation of refugees and settlement of displaced persons, the commission said in a statement made available to PANA here.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - A high-level ECOWAS delegation, led by Commission President James Victor Gbeho, is in Abidjan for talks with officials of the Ivorian government on how the regional organization can support the country's post-conflict reconstruction, an ECOWAS Commission statement obtained by PANA here said. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Council of Ministers has appealed to Member States to pay up their outstanding community levy before the next summit of Heads of State and Government, to ensure the regional organisation is able to discharge its mandate effectively to the citizens. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Thirty operatives of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) are to benefit from a week-long training programme which opens on Monday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, an ECOWAS statement said. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday assured President Bacai Sanha of Guinea Bissau that Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would support efforts towards the implementation of the regional body’s pledge to assist the socio-political rehabilitation of the country. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Chairman of ECOWAS Council of Ministers and Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, here Wednesday called on member states to fully implement the ECOWAS flagship Free Movement Protocol to boost the regional integration progress, a press release issued by the community said.Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The 66th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers will be opened at the commission’s secretariat, Abuja, Nigeria's capital city, on Wednesday, 17 August, a press release issued by the commission said Tuesday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, Thursday inaugurated the Third ECOWAS legislature in Abuja, the Nigerian capital city, warning that forceful takeover of power through coup d’états would no longer be tolerated in the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will hold a mini-summit at its headquarters in Nigeria's capital city of Abuja 19 August to discuss the security challenges facing Cote d'Ivoire, which is recovering from a serious political crisis triggered by November's election. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The West African Research Centre (WARC) has appealed to governments across Africa to encourage the emergence of a new crop of young scientists to complement the efforts of their old counterparts, and also to ensure that minimum standards are maintained in the laboratories of their research institutions. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, here Monday said ECOWAS would hold a special meeting to discuss security challenges confronting Cote d’Ivoire. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Participants at the recently-concluded three-day Malaria Elimination Campaign meeting in Accra, Ghana, have called on ECOWAS member states to develop, jointly with the ECOWAS Commission, a regional strategy for the elimination of malaria in the West African region by 2015. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has strongly condemned Tuesday's attack on the residence of President Alpha Conde of Guinea by a group of military personnel, in which one person died and many more were injured. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The annual joint military, communications and interoperability exercise, tagged AFRICA ENDEAVOR 11, is underway in Banjul, the Gambia. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Germany has agreed to consider the requests for assistance tabled before it by the regional bloc ECOWAS, during German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to the ECOWAS Commission headquarters in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, Thursday.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission Wednesday announced the death of its pioneer Commissioner for Trade, Industry and Mines, Tourism and Free Movement of Persons and Goods, Mohammed B. Daramy. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS Ministers in charge of humanitarian affairs have resolved to set up a Task Force of Government Ministries, relevant partners and civil society to coordinate the implementation of the African Union (AU) Convention on humanitarian assistance and internal displacement in Africa, also known as the Kampala Convention. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The current ECOWAS Chairman and President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has called on ECOWAS member states to ratify and domesticate the African Union (AU) Convention on Humanitarian Assistance and Internal Displacement, to strengthen their collective capacity to address the challenges of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in West Africa, said a news release issued Friday by ECOWAS. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Council of the Wise has expressed concern over "attempts" by Heads of State of the Member States to change their Constitution in order to remain in office beyond constitutionally permitted terms.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The President of the ECOWAS Commission, James Victor Gbeho, has invited the Chinese private sector to participate in the sixth ECOWAS Trade Fair, scheduled to take place later in the year, the commission said in a statement Friday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The 15-member regional bloc ECOWAS is to explore the possibility of emulating the integrated approach to development which has transformed China into an economic giant, for the benefit of the citizens of the region, ECOWAS Commission President James Victor Gbeho said in Beijing. Full text...

Lomé, Togo (PANA) – Participants from ECOWAS member countries, rose from a regional workshop on national agricultural programmes, saying women should be made part and parcel of the national agricultural policies of member nations. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission has expressed concern over reports of the illicit movement of sophisticated weapons and mercenary fighters across the regional borders, a situation largely attributable to the ongoing crisis in Libya and the recent conflict in Cote d'Ivoire.Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A high-level joint delegation of officials of the ECOWAS Commission and some member states Monday began talks with Chinese leaders and public/private sector actors on ways to strengthen economic and trade relations between the Asian country, the commission and its member states.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS Commission President James Victor Gbeho has called for greater vigilance by the media, political parties, the civil society and other watchdogs to forestall the manipulation of electoral processes by incumbents and to deepen the democratic culture in Africa.Full text...