Economic Community of West African States

Encyclopedia : E : EC : ECO : Economic Community of West African States

---

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group initially of sixteen countries, founded on May 28, 1975 when sixteen West African countries signed the Treaty of Lagos. Its mission is to promote economic integration. In 2000 Mauritania withdrew its membership from ECOWAS.

It was founded to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for the member states by means of economic and monetary union creating a single large trading bloc. The very slow progress towards this aim meant that the treaty was revised in Cotonou on 24 July 1993 towards a looser collaboration. The ECOWAS Secretariat and the Fund for Cooperation, Compensation and Development are its two main institutions to implement policies. The ECOWAS Fund was transformed into the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development in 2001

ECOWAS is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community.

Member states of ECOWAS are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The current Executive Secretary is Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas. The current chairman is President Tandja Mamadou of Niger.

Members

• Current members
• * (1975)
• * (1975)
• * (joined 1976)
• * (1975)
• * (1975)
• * (1975)
• * (1975)
• * (1975)
• * (1975)
• * (1975)
• * (1975)
• * (1975)
• * (1975)
• * (1975)
• * (1975)

• Former members
• * (1975; quit 2002)

Currency Cooperation

Main article: CFA franc

The West African CFA franc (XOF), created on December 26, 1945, is currently used in six formerly French-ruled African countries, as well as in Guinea-Bissau (former Portuguese colony). It is managed by the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).

Main article: Eco (currency)

The Eco is the proposed name for the common currency the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) plans to introduce on 1 December, 2009. The WAMZ includes the Anglophone countries of Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, and the Francophone nation of Guinea. Liberia is also interested in joining this monetary union. The ultimate goal is to unite the UEMOA and the WAMZ to form a single monetary zone in West Africa (ECOWAS), which Cape Verde would then also join.

Free movement of people

• ECOWAS Travel certificate has entered into circulation in Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
• ECOWAS Passport is printed and operational in Benin, Mali and Senegal.

Regional Security Cooperation

The ECOWAS nations have signed a non-aggression protocol in 1990 as well as two earlier agreements in 1978 and 1981. They have also signed a Protocol on Mutual Defence Assistance, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 29 May, 1989 that was to create an Allied Armed Force of the Community (AAFC) as needed.

See also: ECOMOG

Comparison with other Regional blocs

African Economic Community Pillars regional blocs (REC) Area (km²) Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Member states in millions per capita African Economic Community>AEC 29,910,442 853,520,010 2,053,706 2,406 53 Economic Community of West African States>ECOWAS 5,112,903 251,646,263 342,519 1,361 15 Economic Community of Central African States>ECCAS 6,667,421 121,245,958 175,928 1,451 11 Southern African Development Community>SADC 9,882,959 233,944,179 737,335 3,152 14 East African Community>EAC 1,763,777 97,865,428 104,239 1,065 3 Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa>COMESA 12,873,957 406,102,471 735,599 1,811 20 Intergovernmental Authority on Development>IGAD 5,233,604 187,969,775 225,049 1,197 7 Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic>Western Sahara 3 266,000 273,008 ? ? 4 4 Other African blocs Area (km²) Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Member states in millions per capita Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa>CEMAC 1 3,020,142 34,970,529 85,136 2,435 6 Southern African Customs Union>SACU 1 2,693,418 51,055,878 541,433 10,605 5 West African Economic and Monetary Union>UEMOA 1 3,505,375 80,865,222 101,640 1,257 8 Arab Maghreb Union>UMA 2 5,782,140 84,185,073 491,276 5,836 5 Agadir Agreement>Agadir 1,703,910 126,066,286 513,674 4,075 4 1 Economic bloc inside a pillar REC 2 Proposed for pillar REC, but objecting participation 3 Signatory to the AEC, but not participating in any bloc yet 4 Regional divisions ██  ██  During 2004. Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database This box: [ view] • [ talk] • [ edit]

Trade bloc#Most active regional blocs>Most active regional blocs Regional bloc 1 Area (km²) Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Member states 1 in millions per capita EU 3,977,487 460,124,266 11,723,816 25,480 25 CARICOM 462,344 14,565,083 64,219 4,409 14+1 3 ECOWAS 5,112,903 251,646,263 342,519 1,361 15 CEMAC 3,020,142 34,970,529 85,136 2,435 6 EAC 1,763,777 97,865,428 104,239 1,065 3 CSN 17,339,153 370,158,470 2,868,430 7,749 10 GCC 2,285,844 35,869,438 536,223 14,949 6 SACU 2,693,418 51,055,878 541,433 10,605 5 COMESA 3,779,427 118,950,321 141,962 1,193 5 NAFTA 21,588,638 430,495,039 12,889,900 29,942 3 ASEAN 4,400,000 553,900,000 2,172,000 4,044 10 SAARC 5,136,740 1,467,255,669 4,074,031 2,777 8 Agadir 1,703,910 126,066,286 513,674 4,075 4 EurAsEC 20,789,100 208,067,618 1,689,137 8,118 6 CACM 422,614 37,816,598 159,536 4,219 5 PARTA 528,151 7,810,905 23,074 2,954 12+2 3 Reference blocs and countries 2 Area (km²) Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Political divisions in millions per capita UN 133,178,011 6,411,682,270 55,167,630 8,604 192 Canada 9,984,670 32,507,874 1,077,000 34,273 13 China (PRC) 4 9,596,960 1,306,847,624 8,182,000 6,300 33 India 3,287,590 1,102,600,000 3,433,000 3,100 35 Russia 17,075,200 143,782,338 1,282,000 8,900 89 USA 9,631,418 296,900,571 11,190,000 39,100 50 1 Including data only for full and most active members 2 The first two states in the World by area, population and GDP (PPP) 3 Including non-sovereign autonomous entities of other states 4 Data for the People's Republic of China does not include Hong Kong, Macau and regions administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan). ██  ██  During 2004. Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database This box: [ view] • [ talk] • [ edit]

Executive Secretaries

• Aboubakar Diaby Ouattara (Côte d'Ivoire) January 1977 - 1985
• Momodu Munu (Sierra Leone) 1985 - 1989
• Abass Bundu (Sierra Leone) 1989 - 1993
• Edouard Benjamin (Guinea) 1993 - 1997
• Lansana Kouyate (Nigeria) September 1997 - 31 January 2002
• Mohamed Ibn Chambas (Ghana) 1 February 2002 - Present

Chairmen

• Gnassingbé Eyadéma (Togo) 1977 – 1978
• Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria) 1978 – 1979
• Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal) 1979 – 1980
• Gnassingbé Eyadéma (Togo) 1980 – 1981
• Siaka Stevens (Sierra Leone) 1981 – 1982
• Mathieu Kérékou (Benin) 1982 – 1983
• Ahmed Sékou Touré (Guinea) 1983 – 1984
• Lansana Conté (Guinea) 1984 – 1985
• Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria) 1985 – 27 August 1985
• Ibrahim Babangida (Nigeria) 27 August 1985 – 1989
• Dawda Jawara (The Gambia) 1989 – 1990
• Blaise Compaoré (Burkina Faso) 1990 – 1991
• Dawda Jawara (The Gambia) 1991 – 1992
• Abdou Diouf (Senegal) 1992 – 1993
• Nicéphore Soglo (Benin) 1993 – 1994
• Jerry John Rawlings (Ghana) 1994 – 27 July 1996
• Sani Abacha (Nigeria) 27 July 1996 – 8 June 1998
• Abdulsalami Abubakar (Nigeria) 9 June 1998 – 1999
• Gnassingbé Eyadéma (Togo) 1999
• Alpha Oumar Konaré (Mali) 1999 – 21 December 2001
• Abdoulaye Wade (Senegal) 21 December 2001 – 31 January 2003
• John Agyekum Kufuor (Ghana) 31 January 2003 – 19 January 2005
• Mamadou Tandja (Niger) 19 January 2005 – Present

See also

• Currency union
• Trade bloc

External links

• [ECOWAS Official Web Site]
• [PowerPoint presentation of ECOWAS, 2004]
• [Mbendi profile]

 

---

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

?