This was the highlight from his discussions with French Ambassador to Nigeria, Denys Gauer while receiving him in his office on 24 November 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria.

The discussions between Marcel de Souza and Denys Gauer focused on areas of cooperation between the West African Community and France.

According to the Country Director of the French Development Agency (AFD), Olivier Delefosse, who was also in attendance, Community projects on food security, fight against mango fly in the Sahel, agro-ecology, energy, etc. were financed by France to the tune of 85 billion euros.

Denys Gauer and Olivier Delefosse expressed satisfaction with ECOWAS/France cooperation and called for further strengthening of ties.

Denys Gauer and Marcel de Souza spoke at length on other matters, including the G5 and Alliance for the Sahel, security threat in West Africa, migration of young West Africans to Europe, construction of Abidjan-Lagos corridor, security in the Gulf of Guinea, and round-table for financing ECOWAS priority projects, scheduled for January 2018 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

Apart from the meeting with the French diplomat, the President of the ECOWAS Commission also received the African Union Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security, Mrs Bineta Diop in his office.

Women’s contribution to peace keeping and security, protection from acts of violence in West Africa as well as economic empowerment were key issues of their discussions.

The Director of Operations for Nigeria and Coordinator of the World Bank Regional Integration Programme for West Africa, Mr Rachid Benmessaoud also paid a visit to the President of the ECOWAS Commission, to inform him of the forthcoming development of the 2018/2020 World Bank’s regional strategy for Africa.

Mr Marcel de Souza expressed hope that the strategy will take due account of current ECOWAS challenges, particularly inadequate railway, port, energy, road and health infrastructure, etc.

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