By Aliyu DANLADI
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has commended the Central and West African regions for their successful Joint Summit of ECOWAS and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) in Lomé.
Guterres, in a statement issued by his Spokesperson, Mr Farhan Haq in New York, noted the cooperation between the two regional groups.
The ECOWAS/ECCAS joint summit on Peace, Security, Stability and the Fight against Terrorism and Violent Extremism, took place in Lomé, Togo, on July 30, 2018.
The Secretary-General welcomed the renewed commitment of ECCAS and ECOWAS member States to strengthen cooperation on key peace and security challenges.
The UN chief was particularly encouraged by the decision to sign a Criminal Cooperation Agreement by the end of 2018 and to establish a ministerial committee to monitor implementation of the Summit decisions.
He also welcomed the decision of the Heads of State and Government of the two regions to hold consultations in the margins of the ordinary summit of the African Union in January, and to meet every two years to review implementation of the decisions contained in the Lomé Declaration adopted at the Joint Summit.
The Secretary-General reiterated the commitment of the UN to continue to promote inter-regional cooperation and support the implementation of the decisions adopted by the ECCAS-ECOWAS Summit.
