On Thursday, October 19, the agreement also encompassed aspects such as affordable and clean energy, sustainable food systems, food security, and migration.
Jutta Urpilainen, the leader of the EU delegation and European Commissioner for International Partnerships, convened with ECOWAS Commission President Omar Alieu Touray in Abuja to formalize these agreements. The presence of European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson was notable as well.
Urpilainen emphasized that the European Union has been a longstanding advocate of regional integration that generates prosperity through value addition.
She further highlighted that these agreements play a pivotal role in fostering stability in the region by advancing principles such as democracy, the rule of law, and economic cooperation.
The specific components of these agreements include a €34 million allocation to support the free movement of persons and migration.
This funding is intended to enhance the development potential of free movement and migration within a more secure and rights-oriented framework for the Economic Community of West African Countries as part of the regional integration process. The objective is to bolster the effective implementation of the ECOWAS free movement Protocol and ECOWAS Common Approach on Migration at regional, national, and local levels. Additionally, €50 million has been allocated to support African Trade Competitiveness and Market Access.
The third agreement, focusing on trade in services within Sub-Saharan Africa, has a budget of €11.5 million. Its purpose is to facilitate the expansion of service liberalization and exports within specific service sectors.
In addition, a support program has been established for specialized ECOWAS organizations involved in the energy sector. This program aims to enhance the development of the regional electricity market, operationalize its interconnected grid, and augment the proportion of renewable energy within the energy mix.
“Regional Clean Cooking Action in West Africa – ReCCAWA, E12 million, for increasing access to clean, efficient, sustainable and affordable cooking energy solutions in West Africa by strengthening the clean cooking enabling framework at regional and national scales, by proposing innovative financing and promoting business models that will scale-up the supply, dissemination and adoption of clean cooking solutions, and by creating and disseminating evidence-based data and knowledge that will contribute to the governance of the West African cooking sector” the EU Commissioner said.