The next session of the West Africa Intergovernmental Committee of Experts to focus on food security

ECA Press Release No. 61/2009

Niamey, 05 November, 2009 (ECA) – The Twelfth Session of the West Africa Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) will be held on 12 and 13 November, 2009 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The Session, to be held under the theme, “Food Security in West Africa”, will examine ways and means of dealing with the economic and social challenges posed in the subregion by economic and food crises.

The delegates, mostly Senior Officials from Ministries in charge of finance, planning and economic development and experts from West African Inter-Governmental Organisations, will discuss common measures which countries in the sub region should take to achieve food self-sufficiency and food security within the framework of regional cooperation and integration. This review will be conducted against the backdrop of recent adverse economic and social developments across the globe aggravated by the financial crisis. A roundtable on “Challenges in designing development-oriented mining policies in West Africa” will also be part of the proceedings at the ICE. The Roundtable will discuss the impact of policy on enhancing the contribution of the mining sector to sustainable development and the alleviation of poverty on the African continent.

The ICE will be preceded by an ad hoc experts group meeting (AEGM) to be held on 10 and 11 November, 2009. The AEGM is jointly organized by the ECA’s Subregional Office for West Africa and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The objective of the AEGM is to assess progress in the implementation of the multi-year programme of cooperation between the ECOWAS Commission and ECA since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions in August 2007 and the way forward.

The Intergovernmental Committee of Experts is a subsidiary body of the Economic Commission for Africa and each subregional office has such a committee. These committees meet once every year to discuss issues of particular concern to each subregion so that these may be taken into account by ECA in the formulation and implementation of economic and social development programmes and policies across the continent. Previous ICE meetings for West Africa were held in Niamey (1998), Conakry (1999), Abuja (2000), Dakar (2001), Niamey (2002), Banjul (2003), Abuja (2004),  Ouagadougou (2005), Lomé (2006), Niamey (2007 and 2008).

For more information, contact

ECA Office for West Africa
P.O. Box 744
Niamey, Niger
Telephone: + (227)20722961
Fax: + (227)20722894
E-mail: srdcwest@uneca.org

Issued by the ECA Information and Communication Service
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Addis Ababa
Ethiopia

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