President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray has urged member states to leverage the vast potentials of West Africa’s private sector toward sub-regional economic integration and development.
Touray made the plea at the 93rd Ordinary Session of ECOWAS Council of Ministers on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that local private sector actors needed the support of both ECOWAS and individual member states because they have an important role in achieving the bloc’s economic integration efforts.
The commission’s president explained that the goal was to mobilise, develop and retain regional capital within the ECOWAS subregion for the overall good of all.
“The role of our private sector in providing the necessary resources for our Institutions, removing non-tariff barriers, implementing regionally agreed policies and commitments is vital to our success.
“Our local private sector actors also have an important role, and they need the support of both the regional institutions and governments to exploit the vast potentials in our community.
“We must give our local private sector actors the right of first refusal in any investment opportunity in our community. We should harness the resources of our businessmen and women to succeed,” he said.
Touray also said that, over the years, ECOWAS had been consistent in its determination to deepen regional integration process by deploying multifaceted strategies to achieve it, and pledged to continue doing so.
According to him, such efforts include regional energy development, regional air transport development, regional regulation on roaming on public mobile communications networks, among others within the ECOWAS space.
He said that ECOWAS had made progress in the merger of the West Africa Gas Pipeline Extension Project with the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project.
This, he said, follows the adoption of an Intergovernmental Agreement for the African Atlantic Gas pipeline by the Ministers in charge of Energy and Hydrocarbons.
“This regional integrative project aims to build a gas pipeline linking Nigeria to Morocco, feeding ECOWAS member states and Mauritania with future extension to Europe.
“It is an infrastructure of 6,800 km long, including 5,100 km offshore, with a transport capacity of 30 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year. In addition, a framework document for the establishment of an ECOWAS Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Facility has been finalised by the ministers,” he said.
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