Another ECOWAS summit ignores Morocco’s bid to join the trade bloc

Held on June 30 in Abuja, an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)' summit ignored once again Morocco’s bid to join the trade bloc.

According to the summit’s final statement, released on July 2, the meeting did not review Morocco’s pending bid. This summit was held after the trade bloc agreed in principle on the Kingdom’s application in 2017.

The committee set up after an ECOWAS summit in 2017, composed of the Togolese, Ivorian, Guinean and Nigerian presidents to evaluate the impact Morocco’s membership would have on the bloc, has not delivered its report yet.

For the record, during the Monrovia summit in June 2017, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Nasser Bourita, told reporters that the Kingdom has to wait until the first quarter of 2018 for the decision of ECOWAS, which would be announced at an extraordinary session.

The next summit of the Economic Community of West African States is scheduled for December 2019 in Niamey, Niger.