Abuja, Nigeria, October 6, 2022. The ECOWAS Commission is convening an Experts‘ Meeting on the implementation of ECOVISA from October 11-13, 2022 in Abuja, Nigeria. The meeting which is in fulfilment of the mandate of the ECOVISA Task Force, is to enable the latter to present its report and the study’s recommendations for validation by Member States’ Experts.

The meeting is also an opportunity to discuss other emerging issues related to the implementation of ECOVISA such as the validation of the terms of reference for the recruitment of competent local service providers to develop the technology to be used for ECOVISA.

The recommendations from this Expert’s Meeting will be taken forward for adoption at the highest level.

The 3-day meeting will bring together Experts in charge of issuance of visas, Experts in charge of control of visas at entry points as well as participants from the ECOWAS Commission and GIZ-AUBP.

For reference, the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government mandated the ECOWAS Commission to develop the modalities for the smooth implementation of the ECOVISA for Migrants of third countries. In realization of this mandate, the ECOWAS Commission in collaboration with GIZ-AUBP launched a study on the modalities for harmonization of Visa procedures and process in the ECOWAS region. An ECOVISA Task Force was set up and series of Experts‘ meetings held with Experts from Burkina Faso, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Federal Republic of Nigeria and Senegal in April, 2022 to examine the findings of the study. This Experts‘ meeting is therefore, to ensure the final validation to pave the way for the implementation of the ECOVISA.