The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has stressed the importance of political stability, peace and security for the region’s prosperity.

Omar Touray, the president of the ECOWAS Commission, stated this at the 64th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government on Sunday in Abuja.

He said political stability would enable the region to enjoy the free flow of investments and improved socio-economic relations among the various member countries.

‘’The flow of foreign capital and intra-regional trade and investment has been affected by the risk rating of our region. We are challenged to improve the business environment in our community to take advantage of the growing interests of investors in our community,” said Mr Touray.

He said the bloc made regional infrastructure and business-friendly policies the fundamental of integration in the region, hence inaugurating the International Coordination Centre of the West African Power Pool in Abomey-Calavi in Benin Republic on November 17.

‘’The unified electricity market achieved through this project will improve access to electricity by areas of low generation from areas with high supply. With the exception of Cabo Verde, all the Member States of ECOWAS are connected to the system, which makes the sale and purchase of electricity among them possible,’’ he said.

He disclosed that the European Union supported the project with €35 million.

Mr Touray said the commission had kept faith with the decisions taken against member countries that had breached democratic tenets through the unconstitutional takeover of power.

He added that the commission was undeterred by the actions of the military junta in the Niger Republic in respect of the humanitarian efforts of the ECOWAS leaders.

‘’The military authorities have, unfortunately, shown little remorse as they hold onto their untenable positions, holding not only President Bazoum, his family, and members of his government hostage, but also the people of Niger.

“We are aware of the dire humanitarian situation in Niger Republic. And in line with the provisions of our community texts, we granted humanitarian access to medical and humanitarian goods for the sake of the people.

“But reports from humanitarian agencies show that the military authorities have been interfering with humanitarian access,’’ he said.

The ECOWAS Commission president highlighted some challenges the commission faced but quickly added that foreign partners had been of help all along.

“Allow me to highlight the situation of the community levy, which is the lifeline of the community institutions and integration programmes. As you would recall, a levy of 0.5 per cent on imports from outside the community is being collected by member states on behalf of ECOWAS,” he stated.

However, he said access to the funds has been challenging as sanctioned states have stopped remitting levies amid the bloc’s growing tasks.

“I have been compelled to bring this matter to your attention because we have the community’s action plan against terrorism to implement.

“Specifically, we have peacekeeping missions to sustain, vital integration programmes to finance, transitions in member states under military rule to support, and various socio-economic and humanitarian problems to tackle,” he explained.

(NAN)