The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS has disclosed that it has concluded plans for sub-regional development projects worth 29.66 billion dollars for the period of 2018 to 2022.

President of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel Alain de Souza said this while presenting the Status Report on the State of the Community to the Second Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja.

De Souza was represented by the commission’s Vice President, Edward Singhatey.

He said that the projects would come under the Community Development Programme and cover seven priority sectors including infrastructure, energy, agriculture and health.

“For the period 2018 to 2022, the commission has selected seven priority projects from key sectors namely: Infrastructure, energy, agriculture and health. The overall cost of these projects is estimated at US $29.66 billion. In order to mobilise funds for the realisation of these priority projects for the region, a donor’s roundtable on the projects will hold in Abidjan on 25th and 26th January.”

Speaking on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union and West Africa, he said that only Gambia, Mauritania and Nigeria were yet to sign.

He added the commission had organised workshops for the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and other trade unions to understand the benefit of the partnership.

Furthermore, De Souza said that the meeting of the Presidential Task Force on the proposed ECOWAS single currency was scheduled to hold in Feb. 2018.

He said the EPA, ECOWAS single currency, the Common External Tariff among others, were plans aimed at promoting integration, intraregional trade and international cooperation.