ECOWAS

Economic Community of West African States Communauté économique des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest Comunidade Económica dos Estados da África Ocidental
Headquarters		Abuja, Nigeria 6°27′N 3°23′E / 6.45, 3.383
Largest city		Lagos, Nigeria
Official languages		French, English, Portuguese
Membership		15
Leaders
-	Chairman	Blaise Compaore
Establishment
-	Treaty of Lagos	May 28, 1975
Area
-	Total	5,112,903 km² (7th) 1,5,352,86 sq mi
Population
-	2006 estimate	251,646,263 (4th)
-	Density	115.6/km²  299.4/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2005 estimate
-	Total	U$ 342,519 Billion (28th)
-	Per capita	U$ 7,890
Currency		Cape Verdean escudo (CVE) Cedi (GHC)2 Dalasi (GMD)2 Guinean franc (GNF)2 Liberian dollar (LRD)3 Naira (NGN)2 Leone (SLL)3 West African CFA franc (XOF)
Time zone		(UTC0 to +2)
1	If considered as a single entity.
2	to be replaced by the eco in 2009.
3	Liberia has expressed an interest in joining the eco.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen West African countries, founded on May 28, 1975 with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos. Its mission is to promote economic integration. In 1976 Cape Verde joined ECOWAS, and in December 2000 Mauritania withdrew,^[1] having announced its intention to do so in December 1999.^[2]

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 July 24, 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 Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso.

Operating officially in three coequal languages (French, English, and Portuguese), in Francophone nations it is called Communauté économique des Etats de l'Afrique de l'ouest or (CEDEAO).

[edit] Members

Map of ECOWAS as of 2006.

• Current members
  •  Benin (1975)
  •  Burkina Faso (1975)
  •  Cape Verde (joined 1976)
  •  Côte d'Ivoire (1975)
  •  Gambia (1975)
  •  Ghana (1975)
  •  Guinea (1975)
  •  Guinea-Bissau (1975)
  •  Liberia (1975)
  •  Mali (1975)
  •  Niger (1975)
  •  Nigeria (1975)
  •  Senegal (1975)
  •  Sierra Leone (1975)
  •  Togo (1975)

• Former members
  •  Mauritania (1975; quit 2000)

[edit] Currency Cooperation

Currencies of ECOWAS      UEMOA (West CFA franc)      WAMZ (Eco)      none yet

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.

[edit] 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, Nigeria and Senegal.

[edit] 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 1981 that provided for the establishment of an Allied Armed Force of the Community

See also: ECOMOG

[edit] Sporting and cultural exchange

ECOWAS nations organise a broad array of cultural and sport meetings under the auspices of the body, ranging from the CEDEAO Cup in football, to the Miss CEDEAO Beauty pageant.

[edit] Comparison with other Regional blocs

[edit] Executive Secretaries

African Union

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the African Union

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Other countries · Atlas  Politics portal view • talk • edit

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

[edit] 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

[edit] See also

• Economy of Africa
• Currency union
• Trade bloc
• GAFTA
• Afro (currency)
• Amero

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• ECOWAS Official Web Site
• ECOWAS Secretariat Official Web Site: includes calendar of meetings.
• ECOWAS Parliament
• ECOWAS Revised Treaty
• ECO(was) Bank West African banking group, present in ten ECOWAS countries, including Central African country Cameroon. ECOBANK's Initial Public Offer of eight million plus shares in Accra, Ghana in May 2006 was oversubscribed. Money generated from this IPO, that has resulted in the landing of ECOBANK on the Ghana Stock Exchange, will see ECOBANK expand to remaining ECOWAS countries. More: *[1];
• PowerPoint presentation of ECOWAS, 2004
• Mbendi profile