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...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Experts from the ECOWAS Commission Member States and other regional institutions have called on the Commission to accelerate the process for the operationalisation of the ECOWAS Macroeconomic Convergence (ECOMAC) towards the realisation of a single Monetary Union in West Africa. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - West African farmers are to undergo a training workshop 20-22 June 2011 in Niamey, Niger, on restoration techniques and soil enrichment with tree species with high potential of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP), as part of regional efforts at achieving sustainable management of forest resources, ECOWAS Commission said in a statement here Wednesday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The stage is set for the 4th Edition of the ECOWAS Traditional Wresting Tournament, which is due to begin Thursday in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, with 65 wrestlers from 13 of the 15 Member States. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Regional Ministers in-charge of the Mineral Sector have validated the ECOWAS Mineral Development Policy (EMDP) and urged the Community Council of Ministers to recommend the approval of the policy and its Implementation Matrix to the region's leaders, the ECOWAS Commission said in a statement. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Food security and water resources management in West Africa received a major boost with the signing of two grant agreements for 12.34 million euros between the ECOWAS Commission and the French Development Agency (AFD) at the Commission headquarters here Thursday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS and its Development Partners open their 8th Annual Coordination Meeting at the ECOWAS Commission’s headquarters Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday with a focus on major developments in the regional integration process, including achievements and challenges. Full text...

Lome, Togo (PANA) - The extraordinary summit of the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (WAEMU) began Monday in Lome, the capital of Togo, attended by leaders of seven of the eight member nations of the sub-regional organization. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Security agents have been urged to share experiences in order to imbibe best practices that will better equip them to contribute to the elimination of impediments to the free movement of persons and goods along the Lagos-Seme road, linking Nigeria with neighbouring Benin Republic.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Thirty-three persons are participating in a workshop for emergency response managers and specialists on the application of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in emergency response, which opened Monday in Niamey, Niger, the ECOWAS Commission said in a statement made available to PANA here. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission is extending humanitarian assistance to Côte d’Ivoire and other states affected by the post-election crisis in the country, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Ambassador James Gbeho, said in Abuja Wednesday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and India Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The launch of the Monetary Union of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 2020 will start activities of the Central Bank of ECOWAS and introduce of the common currency in the sub-region, according to the roadmap for the programme of the single currency made available in Bamako. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Mali has welcomed the adoption of the roadmap for the creation of the single currency among member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by the Convergence Council of the group, the Secretary General of the Malian Ministry of Economy and Finance, Sidy Mouhamoud Seck, said.Full text...