Assinie, February 21-25 2021 – The ECOWAS Commission has organized a five-day retreat of the Ad-Hoc Committee of Directors on ECOWAS Vision 2050 in Assinie, Republic of Côte D‘Ivoire. The retreat, which brings together directors from different arms of the ECOWAS Commission and members of international donor agencies and multilateral institutions, will discuss in details modalities for the strategic framework and implementation plan of the Vision 2050.

In his welcome remarks, the Chair of the Committee of Directors (COD), Ambassador Jonas Hemou, stated that the retreat was held to exchange ideas on the key strategies and implementation plan for achieving ECOWAS Vision 2050. He alluded that the Vision documents had been adopted by the Heads of States of the region during their Summit in December 2021. He therefore congratulated members for their diligent efforts and encouraged all to contribute intellectually towards achieving fruitful outcomes. He reminded all that this vision 2050 initiative is being pushed and implemented vigorously by the present ECOWAS Presidency.

H.E Finda E. M. Koroma, the Vice President, ECOWAS Commission who was ably represented by the ECOWAS Resident Representative, Republic of Cote D’Ivoire, Madam Fanta Cisse, in her opening remarks, expressed appreciation to the commission and GIZ for their unflinching support not only to the development and operalization of ECOWAS Vision 2050, but also to the efforts to strengthen the culture of results-based management within ECOWAS institutions. She said ″This retreat is being organized with the aim of establishing a clear roadmap/action plan to accelerate the finalization and deployment of the tools for the operationalisation of ECOWAS Vision 2050. Given the importance of the rapid deployment of the operational tools for the successful implementation of the Vision, I strongly urge that every effort be made to have these tools finalized and deployed by the 2nd quarter of 2022“.

The GIZ representative, Dr. Franck-Emery Mongbe, in his speech, thanked ECOWAS leadership for their dedication and commitment to the region in bringing out this blueprint to change particularly their efforts in getting Vision 2050 adopted by the Member States. He enjoined all in attendance to discuss extensively on the three focus areas: the Community strategic framework, the action plan of the communication strategy for Vision 2050 and the mobilization of funds for its implementation. He added that “with this retreat, I hope we will put together not only the right steps but also recommend the right implementing structures whether internally or externally to give the people what they have asked for.

The retreat which will feature panel discussions on the three focus areas of the vision: presentation and deliberation on the Community Strategic Framework (CSF); the communication strategy; and the resource moblization strategy for Vision 2050. The meeting will end on the 25th February 2022 with the adoption of the report and key recommendations of the retreat.