ECOWAS Leaders Hold Summit Today
Dr Ibn Chambas, President of ECOWAS Commission Leaders of ECOWAS member states including President John Evans Atta Mills are holding their 36th Ordinary Summit in Abuja, Nigeria today.
The leaders will review recent political developments in West Africa, Bissau Guinea, Guinea and Niger.
Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the President of ECOWAS Commission, told the Ghanaian media that the summit will approve the regional labour and employment policy of plan of action.
The policy revolves around seven core issues, including the labour and employment vision for the region, the scope of its application, objectives, guiding principles, framework for its operationalisation, areas of intervention and process of implementation.
The mid-year summit will also consider the report of the 62nd session of the council of ministers that ended in Abuja on May 27, this year.
The mid-year summit discussed the issues of the negotiation of the Economic partnership Agreement (EPA) between ECOWAS and the European Union, the harmonisation of the values Added Tax legislation in member states and another on the guiding principles and policies for the mining sector.
The one-day summit will also approve the expansion to five bands of the tariff regime for West Africa.
Such an expansion, he said, will see the Common External Tariff (CET) for the region increase from the four band approved by the leaders in January 2006 to include a fifth band of 35 per cent for certain categories of goods.
The new regime is part of the process of harmonising the CET structure in West Africa in the build-up to the creation of a common market.
Under the 2006 structure, member states were required to maintain a four-band tariff regime of between zero and 20 per cent for goods imported into the region from non-ECOWAS member states.
The leaders will also discuss the impact of the global economic and financial crises on the region and give directives on measures to mitigate its effects on the economies of member states.
The heads of state and government will also consider the 2009 interim report of the president of the Commission.