Ambassador Francis Oke, ECOWAS Representative to the African Union exchanges ideas with H.E. Antonio Maria Afonso Pedro, Acting Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa 

 As part of the mandate of the ECOWAS Representation to strengthen the existing cooperation between institutions and partners in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the two personalities and their respective teams met to brainstorm on the evolution of collaborative relations between the two institutions as well as the implementation of programmes supported by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

The objective of the meeting was to ensure a harmonious and efficient implementation of the priorities of the 2030 and 2063 agendas. Discussions between the two representatives brought to the fore the need to create an ecosystem that will be based on a horizontal and vertical exchange between the various development stakeholders; the alignment of the ECOWAS Commission’s Vision 2050 with its five-year plan to fast-track its implementation.

For the two Ambassadors, the ecosystem should also take into account investments in social and political behaviours; the inclusion of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in the review of the global financial architecture reform; the re-assessment of the long-term vision of RECs in order to strengthen regional integration and inter-REC cooperation; and the development of a local value chain strategy to boost the process of implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area.