Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

101, Yakubu Gowon Crescent,, Asokoro District P.M.B. 401, Abuja, Nigeria

Phone : +234 931476479 / Fax : +234 93143005; +234 931 47646

Web site : www.ecowas.int

The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded in 1975 in Lago (Nigeria). It is one of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs). RECs are regional groupings of African states organized into a legal entity by treaty, with economic and social integration as their main objective. The African Union currently recognizes eight RECs, each of which plays a key role in African integration.

Ecowas’ mission is to promote economic integration in « all fields of economic activity, particularly industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, agriculture, natural resources, commerce, monetary and financial questions, social and cultural matters ….. »

The Member States are : the Republic of Benin ; Burkina Faso ; the Republic of Cabo Verde ; the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire Ivory Cost; the Republic of Gambia ; the Republic of Ghana ; the Republic of Guinee ; the Republic of Guinee Bissau ; the Republic of Liberia ; the Republic of Mali ; the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ; the Republic of Niger ; the Republic of Nigeria ; the Republic of Senegal ; the Republic of Sierra Leone ; Togolese Republic.