Second EU-ECOWAS Ministerial meeting

1. The second ministerial meeting between the European Union (EU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was held in Brussels on 12 October 2001. The delegations were led by Mr. Louis Michel, the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Union, and by Mr. Modibo Sidibé, the Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs & Malians Abroad and President of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers. This latest meeting made it possible to strengthen the cooperation and partnership between the EU and ECOWAS.

2. The first ministerial meeting, held last year in Abuja, agreed that regular meetings should henceforth be held in order to foster the real development of relations between the EU and ECOWAS. It was in this spirit of collaboration that work began in the wake of the ministerial conference following up on the Europe-Africa summit held in Cairo and which again confirmed the heads of states' desire to work towards a new dimension in the global partnership between Africa and Europe.

3. Between the two EU-ECOWAS meetings, dialogue was maintained by a number of fruitful meetings in Abuja between ECOWAS Executive Secretary Mr. Lansana Kouyaté and the EU Heads of Mission.

4. The EU considers ECOWAS to be a special dialogue-partner in West Africa. It is particularly keen to encourage the role that ECOWAS plays in the area of regional integration. It is therefore delighted to note the considerable progress that ECOWAS has made in this regard and welcomes the closer ties that have been established between ECOWAS and the UEMOA which should in the longer term make it possible to create a common market for the whole West Africa region.

5. The EU and the Member States are West Africa's leading partners in development cooperation and trade.

6. The current programme, part of the 8th EDF, focuses on the following: support for the process of regional integration, conflict prevention and management, regional trade and the development of the private sector, institutions and the bolstering of capacity, agricultural research, and regional transport, especially roads.

7. The EU is developing its crisis management capacity while at the same time boosting its crisis prevention efforts, in which regard it is focusing on Africa in particular. The EU welcomes the progress made by ECOWAS in setting up a mechanism for crisis prevention and management and conflict settlement and will continue to support ECOWAS efforts in this connection.

8. The EU welcomes the role played by ECOWAS in this sub-region, and in particular the efforts it has made to resolve the crisis in the Mano river countries (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone). It is keen to show its interest in ensuring that the EU and ECOWAS can continue to work closely on the political situation in the region and, more specifically, in supporting, alongside the United Nations, the DDR programme (disarmament, demobilization, reintegration) under way in Sierra Leone which it considers essential for the stability of the region. The appointment of a special representative of the Presidency for the countries of the Mano River Union testifies to the EU's increased commitment to supporting the peace process in the sub-region.

9. Terrorism is a real global challenge and is a threat to our security and our stability. With reference to the joint statement on terrorism published at the close of the Africa-Europe ministerial conference, the EU and ECOWAS confirmed their commitment to making a joint stand to fight this scourge. At the end of this month, ECOWAS will be holding a special meeting to discuss this subject and other issues such as the trafficking in human beings and the trade in diamonds to fund wars. Both parties stressed their commitment to taking all the measures necessary to ensure the full application of UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001).

10. The EU welcomes the extension of the ECOWAS moratorium on light arms. It also referred to the Convention on certain conventional weapons that may be considered as having an excessive traumatic effect or of being indiscriminate, and the Convention on the Prohibition of Antipersonnel Mines, stressing the importance of their ratification and welcoming the fact that virtually all ECOWAS states backed this important gesture.

11. In the context of the negotiations that will begin in September 2002 to conclude Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the EU and the ACP States, in application of the provisions on trade contained in the Cotonou Agreement, the countries of the region are currently planning the geographical configuration of the future EPA with West Africa. ECOWAS pointed to decision A/DEC.8/12/99 of the heads of state and government meeting in Lomé in December 1999 which made ECOWAS the official framework for coordinating relations between West Africa and the European Union. The EU underscored its support for negotiations covering the whole region and welcomed the progress made on this subject, among others, at the various seminars organized in the different ACP regions.

12. The EU noted the concerns expressed by ECOWAS with regard to the suspension of cooperation between the EU and Togo.

13. The EU and ECOWAS undertook to maintain the current mechanism consisting of regular meetings, while ensuring the continuity of the dialogue through additional meetings with the ECOWAS Executive Secretary and the EU Heads of Mission in Abuja.

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