COMMITTEE ADOPTS STRATEGIC REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT DOCUMENT

ABUJA, Nigeria, April 4, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The ECOWAS Strategic Planning Coordinating Committee (SPCC) has adopted the Regional Medium-Term Action Area (RMTAA) document and its implementation framework spelling out the strategic role of Community Institutions and action guidelines for the orderly development of the region.

The three-day meeting, which ended in Accra, Ghana on 29th March 2012, also served as a platform for the World Bank Institute to present Knowledge Exchange and Knowledge Management tools related to the ECOWAS Institutional Transformation and Capacity Development Project.

These tools are designed to strengthen ECOWAS/World Bank collaboration toward making Community Institutions a knowledge hub for the development of the region.

The meeting attended by Directors of the ECOWAS Commission and key personnel in strategic planning/research and planning related areas in Community institutions, was chaired by the Vice-President of the Commission Dr. Toga Gayewea McIntosh, who was represented by the Director of Strategic Planning, Mr. Essien Abel Essien.

The Vice-President assured the Committee that the Commission's new management team will take ownership of the strategic documents and ensure their effective implementation within the limits of its financial resources.

The Director, Africa and Regional Integration Bureau at Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Dr. Kodzo Alabo, who is also the ECOWAS National Unit head in the country, expressed the hope that the implementation of the strategic texts and action pans would spur a sense of cohesion and effective development in the region.