It was also decided to organize, in the margins of the meeting scheduled for 22 to 24 September 2015, a press conference to foster regional and international public awareness of the event.

For four days, the committee members validated the report of their previous meeting and adopted the schedule of activities already carried out, alongside the remaining tasks to be completed. They also adopted the communication and marketing plan designed to raise ECOMOF 2015 awareness at national, regional and international level.

ECOMOF 2015, which was officially launched in Accra on Friday 26 September 2014, will hold from 6 to 8 October 2015 at that same venue and embrace interactive workshops, training sessions, trade shows, country presentations and visits to industries, aimed at highlighting and promoting the development of regional mining and oil resources.

The theme of this edition will be «Harnessing West Africa’s mining and oil resources through regional cooperation» and will be graced by mining sector Ministers and public and private decision-makers operating in the Community’s mining and oil industry.

The ECOWAS Mining and Oil Forum (ECOMOF) which was institutionalized by the Authority of Heads of State and Government on the proposal of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers and the recommendation of ECOWAS Member States’ Ministers of Mining Resources, is a biennial event that will rotate between the ECOWAS Member States.

It aims, inter alia, at enhancing the Community’s mining and oil potentials, promoting regional socio-economic integration, developing artisanal and small-scale mining and creating geological, mining and oil databases in ECOWAS Member States.

Ghana was chosen to host the first edition of the Forum owing to its huge contribution to the harmonization of ECOWAS mining policies and programmes, coupled with its long mining experience.

In 2013, Ghana was the world’s ninth largest producer of gold and bauxite, a fact that consequently endowed the country with a good data coverage as a result of its aerial surveys. It also boasts considerable reserves of iron ore, bauxite and other minerals besides rock salt, chlorine and caustic soda, as well as industrial minerals. What is more, the country recently acquired the largest gold refinery in West Africa.

Regarding the mining sector, Ghana has an attractive legal and fiscal regime consistent with international best practices, as well as a stable regulatory environment that ensures transparent and fair treatment of the sector’s investors and operators.

The various legal and regulatory regimes introduced into the sector, for instance the Ghana Petroleum Revenue Management Act, draw on international best practices from other oil-producing countries, with emphasis on oil revenue collection and distribution mechanisms.