{"id":125106,"date":"2026-01-22T13:53:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T13:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/?p=125106"},"modified":"2026-01-22T13:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T13:57:08","slug":"ecowas-holds-thematic-dialogue-on-digital-transformation-to-strengthen-regional-integration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/?p=125106","title":{"rendered":"ECOWAS HOLDS THEMATIC DIALOGUE ON DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION TO STRENGTHEN REGIONAL INTEGRATION"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Lagos, Nigeria, 20 January 2026<\/strong> \u2014 The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has convened a thematic dialogue in Lagos as part of the ongoing consultations toward the Summit on the Future of West Africa. The dialogue brought together policymakers, experts, and other stakeholders to examine how digital technologies can be effectively harnessed to advance peace, security, economic development, and regional integration in West Africa.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The discussions focused on the role of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, communication systems, and social media in strengthening regional stability and expanding economic opportunities across West Africa. Participants assessed the extent to which existing ECOWAS frameworks and guidelines are aligned with the realities of the digital age, including both the opportunities and risks associated with emerging and disruptive technologies.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In his remarks, the ECOWAS Director of Cabinet Hon. Abdou Kolley underscored the timeliness of the thematic focus on digital transformation, noting that artificial intelligence, data governance, cybersecurity, and digital trade are increasingly shaping global systems. He emphasized the need for ECOWAS to strategically position itself to harness these evolving domains in order to expand economic opportunities, enhance service delivery, strengthen regional institutions, and deepen integration, in line with ECOWAS Vision 2050.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He further indicated that the key outcomes and recommendations from the consultations will be synthesized into a single Compact, which will be submitted for consideration and adoption by the ECOWAS decision-making organs at a Special Summit on the Future of Regional Integration.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Participants reached a consensus that artificial intelligence and digital transformation are fundamentally reshaping how citizens live, work, and interact. They highlighted the importance of establishing a common regional approach to AI governance, data management, and digital technologies to enable ECOWAS maximize benefits while effectively mitigating potential risks.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lagos, Nigeria, 20 January 2026 \u2014 The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has convened a thematic dialogue in Lagos as part of the ongoing consultations toward the Summit on the Future of West Africa. The dialogue brought together policymakers, experts, and other stakeholders to examine how digital technologies can be effectively harnessed to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":125079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[300,469,480,12,479,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-news","category-general-information","category-info-cedeao-2","category-news","category-photos-galerie-cedeao-2","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125107,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125106\/revisions\/125107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/125079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecowas.int\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}