Côte d’Ivoire will in September 2015 become a major economic hub for investors with a high-level conference in Abidjan on financing development programmes in the West African region.

This high level conference is a prelude to the round table of donors to finance the ECOWAS Community Development Programme (ECOWAS/CDP), after a successful conclusion of a participatory and inclusive processes of formulating the CDP.

Already, the ECOWAS Commission had concluded , a consultation with its partners, including the Commission of the UEMOA, other regional platforms of private sector and civil society, as well as ECOWAS Bank for International Development (EBID), United Nation Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) , Banque Ouest Africaine de Development (BOAD), West Africa Power Project (WAPP), and the Project Planning & Development Unit (PPDU), were they discussed the necessary coordination actions to be taken for proper preparation of the high level conference and the round table of donors.

According to the Commissioner for Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Ibrahim Bocar Ba, who chaired the meeting, the idea of organizing a high-level conference before the roundtable of donors was to meet the requirements of the Community to develop and operate a new strategy for mobilizing internal resources in the region in order to self-finance a significant portion of its programmes.

Without this mobilization of resources for funding its programme implementation, ECOWAS/CDP would be reduced to a mere wish of the Community. The CDP will end up without improving the well-being and development of the region, explained Dr. Bâ.

He said such inaction would result in a waste of all the efforts in the formulation phase and loss of investment opportunities for the development and integration of the region.

A Regional ECOWAS/CDP Document had already been developed and organized in three volumes covering priority areas such as the integration of peoples, governance and human development, deepening economic integration and the development of infrastructure, wealth creation, cooperation and funding in West Africa.

During its 45th session held in July 2014 in Accra, Ghana, the Conference of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS adopted this document and instructed the ECOWAS Commission to take the necessary actions to mobilize resources for the financing of the ECOWAS/CDP and to eliminate duplication and lack of synergies between projects and programmes in West Africa.

Following its adoption by the region, one of the major challenges of the ECOWAS/CDP was funding a successful implementation of programmes and project. The programmes aims to promote strong economic growth and job creation, especially for young people, and sustainable development within the ECOWAS region.

According to Sandra Oulaté Elleingand the Director of Communication of the ECOWAS Commission, a special website dedicated to both events that will contain all the documents and registration forms as well as conditions for participation in these two flagship events will be online in a few days.