Abuja, June 13 2017. A strategic planning and capacity development retreat on the role of African Regional Economic Communities (RECs)s in the Implementation of the First Ten Year Action Plan of the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 has ended in Abuja, Nigeria.

The two-Day retreat which held at the ECOWAS Commission headquarters from the 8^th and 9^th of June 2017 was organized by the ECOWAS Liaison Office to AU in conjunction with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF).

A roadmap was developed at the end of the retreat to galvanize the capacity building of the RECs as well as to guide and govern their partnership with IDEA and ACBF towards filling observed institutional, organizational and human capacity gaps to ensure proactive contribution to the structural transformation and deeper Integration of the Continent.

When finalized, the Abuja RECs Roadmap (ARR) will also enhance inter-RECs cooperation through joint planning, programming and execution to better equip the RECs to individually and collectively implement their specific agenda and that of the AU 2063.

The Roadmap covers the identification of joint Strategic priorities of RECs, IDEA and ACBF, areas for programmatic, technical and substantive assistance, common institutional, organizational, human resource, knowledge learning and management programmes. It also has a Work plan and Statement of Declaration of Commitment to implement joint activities around the identified priorities including the Joint Resource Mobilization Plan.

Earlier while declaring the retreat open, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS), Mrs. Halima Ahmed reiterated the need for AU to involve and consult RECs as it undertakes its current reforms.

The Commissioner noted that she was elated about the timeliness of the retreat in ‘repositioning the RECs as building blocks of the African Union against the background of the on-going President Kagame-led AU Reforms’.

She expressed concern that in spite of the claim that RECs are the building blocks of the AU, the RECs have so far not been consulted or involved in the on-going AU Reforms. She assured participants that ECOWAS stands ready to sign the declaration of commitment to the partnership and the implementation of the Roadmap emanating from the retreat.

The Regional Director of IDEA’s Africa and Western Asia Programme (IDEA AWA) Professor Adebayo Olukoshi and the Executive Secretary of ACBF Prof Emmanuel Nnadozie both reiterated the central role of RECs in the social and economic transformation of their respective regions and the continent at large. They were optimistic that the tri-lateral partnership between their organizations and the RECs had great potentials not only to strengthen RECs capacities to contribute substantially to the implementation of AU Agenda 2063 but also to promote Inter REC cooperation. They both pledged their organizations’ commitment and support in meeting their regional and continental obligations.

The Retreat had in attendance, representatives and officials of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Community of Sahel-Saharan States CEN-SAD and the host organization-ECOWAS, Nigeria’s National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS), as well as Dukes Transnational Consult and Integrated Services.

The ten year AU action plan is meant among others, to facilitate the socioeconomic transformation of Africa. The RECs Roadmap is expected to be finalized on the margins of the January 2018 AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after further engagement with the RECs by Chief Executives of all concerned partnering organizations.