Dr. Weeks, informed participants that the current Management of the Commission has prioritized the development of the Praia-Dakar-Abidjan Multimodal Corridor in its Community Development Programme. She urged the participants to capitalize on the opportunity to ensure that all viable infrastructure projects with a corridor or regional dimension are captured during the project selection process.

Mrs. Oumou Camara, the Minister for Public Works of the Republic of Guinea, thanked the Experts on behalf of His Excellency Professor Alpha CONDE, the President of the Republic of Guinea for their participation. She particularly expressed her gratitude to the ECOWAS Commission and Partners for responding to the invitation to attend the important Workshop.

She said that the Dakar-Lagos corridor project traversing eleven (11) Countries from Senegal to Nigeria along the Coast of the Atlantic Ocean, is to be implemented within the framework of the PIDA Priority Action Plan which is in line with the ECOWAS Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan. She emphasized that the implementation of the Program should take into account Gender and Environmental concerns.

The NEPAD representative, Mr. Adama Deen, Snr Advisor to the CEO on Strategic Infrastructure Initiatives and NPCA Focal Point for ECOWAS PIDA Capacity Building Program in his remarks commended the ECOWAS Commission on achieving this important milestone of commencing the Acceleration Program for the Praia-Dakar-Abidjan Multimodal Development Corridor and also ensuring the participation of ECOWAS Member States and stakeholders on the Corridor. He assured participants that NEPAD Agency, as the executing agency for the PIDA Acceleration Program and the PIDA Capacity Building Project stands ready to support ECOWAS in the implementation of the outcome of the Workshop.

The Department of Infrastructure of the ECOWAS Commission, given the multimodal and multisector potential of the Dakar-Abidjan Multimodal Corridor (DAMC), is using the Acceleration process to map out all possible Sub-Corridor anchor projects in the following sectors: Cross-Border Infrastructure Gender Mainstreaming, Energy, Telecoms, Transport and Trans-Boundary Water Resources. This is being done under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between ECOWAS and NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA) in March 2015, for capacity building on the Program for Infrastructure Development for Africa (PIDA) Implementation.

The Dakar-Lagos Corridor has been selected as a key priority under the ECOWAS Community Development Programme (CDP).

The Workshop was attended by Experts of Infrastructure/Works/Transport, Energy, Water Resources and ICT from the following countries on the Praia-Dakar-Abidjan Corridor: Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Also in attendance were representatives of the African Union Commission, NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA), ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), and Mano River Union (MRU)