Bamako, 11 September 2017. The Commissioner for Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mamadou Traoré, has commended the significant progress recorded in the implementation of the West African single currency.

In his opening statement at the meeting of the ECOWAS Technical Committee on Macroeconomic Policy held in Bamako, Mali on 11 September 2017, Mr Traoré highlighted the adoption of a roadmap, designation of Heads of State to supervise the process and setting up of a Task Force to advise the Heads of States. He also pointed out the rationalisation of convergence criteria, functioning of national coordinating committees and the multilateral surveillance mechanism implementation.

He then called on participants to forward proposals that would further strengthen the integration process and speed up achievement of the monetary cooperation programme objectives such as the establishment of a single currency in ECOWAS.

In the same vein, the Malian Minister of the Economy and Finance, Dr Boubou Cissé, urged participants to formulate concrete and relevant recommendations that reflect West African realities and lead to important actions that can guarantee solid economic progress in the region.

He however regretted the fact that the ECOWAS Technical Committee on Macroeconomic Policy did not hold enough meetings and expressed the wish for meetings to be held more frequently.

“Within the process of implementing integration activities, consultative meetings are paramount for evaluating progress and agreeing on measures required for a more effective integration process”, stated Mr Cissé.

During the meeting, experts from Member States and representatives of regional institutions will review the 2016 convergence report, progress of the ECOWAS Monetary Co-operation Programme and progress of the implementation of roadmap activities by various institutions.

They will also listen to a presentation on recent developments in the ECOWAS Community Development Programme (CDP).

The conclusions and recommendations from the meeting will be submitted at the10^th ordinary session of the Convergence Council of the ECOWAS multilateral surveillance mechanism, scheduled for 14 September 2017 in Bamako.