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West African leaders urge stronger cooperation

Xinhua, December 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Leaders of West African countries on Wednesday urged stronger cooperation in the subregion to promote connectivity.

"There is need for us to cooperate more on infrastructure, energy, agriculture, railway, electricity and many more, to ensure better connectivity," Macky Sall, president of Senegal, told a summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Sall, chairman of the ECOWAS Authority, urged member states to look inward and criticize one another to achieve success in all facets.

In his opening address, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari called for regional and global cooperation against insecurity, arms and drug trafficking, as well as piracy and criminality at sea, especially among ECOWAS member states.

While calling for concerted global effort to combat climate change, which could be blamed for the spate of insecurity in West Africa, the Nigerian leader said security challenges persist in the region because of the daunting scourge of transnational organized crime including arms trafficking and drug trafficking, among others.

"Equally worrying is the rising scourge of violent extremism and terrorism. All these constitute serious threats to peace and security in the region, and therefore, we must take urgent and concerted actions," he said.

The Nigerian leader also called on ECOWAS member states to continue to cooperate with their development partners, and take advantage of their willingness to support the regional bloc's initiatives to address all its challenges.

The summit coincides with the 40th anniversary celebration of the founding of ECOWAS.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chair of the African Union Commission, and Mohammed Ibn Chambas, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special representative in West Africa, delivered goodwill messages on the occasion. Endi