In December 2017, members of the Economic Community of West African States, also known as ECOWAS, have set up a committee composed of Togolese, Ivorian, Ghanaian and Nigerian presidents to draft a report. The latter is expected to list the impacts related to Morocco’s ECOWAS membership.
In principle, the committee’s survey will be presented during ECOWAS’ next Conference of the Heads State and Government, scheduled for June in Lomé (Togo).
The information was announced Wednesday, 16th of May, by the economic community’s chairman, Ivorian Jean Claude Brou, during a press briefing held in the Nigerian capital on the sidelines of the first ordinary session of the group’s Parliamentary Assembly for 2018.
Will Morocco be declared an ECOWAS member in June ?
Last February, the ECOWAS Commission, chaired at the time by Marcel de Souza, urged think tanks and researchers in the region to conduct a second impact study, determining the potential consequences of Morocco’s membership. The 2nd of March was the deadline set by the Commission.
In June in Lomé, ECOWAS presidents and heads of state and government should consider the two studies on the same subject. Would they have enough time to make their minds or would they choose to postpone their decision to a later date ?
To defend the Kingdom’s bid to join the economic community, Moroccan think tank the Amadeus Institute organized meetings in Dakar and Abidjan. The institute has even collaborated with the Moroccan embassy in Ghana.
For the record, Ghanaian head of state is a member of the presidential committee to draft the report to examine the Moroccan request.