Economic Community of West African States

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**ECOWAS**
Statistics
Image:Int-ecwa.gif
Image:ECOWAS.GIF
ECOWAS Headquarters	Abuja, Nigeria
Largest cities	Lagos, Abidjan, Dakar
Member states	15
Official languages	French, English
Presidencies
Current President	Tandja Mamadou of Niger
Formation of ECOWAS - Signed - Enforced	Treaty of Lagos. - May 28 1975 -
Area - Total	7th if ranked^{^{[citation needed]}} 5,112,903 km² 1,5352,86 sq mi
Population - Total (2006) - Density	4th if ranked^{^{[citation needed]}} 251,646,263 115.6 people/km² 299.4 people/sq mi
GDP (PPP, 2005) 1,361 - Per capita	28th if ranked^{^{[citation needed]}} 342,519 million^{^{[citation needed]}} $7,890^{^{[citation needed]}}
Other information
Currencies	Cape Verdean escudo (CVE) Cedi (GHC)¹¹ Dalasi (GMD)¹¹ Guinean franc (GNF)¹¹ Liberian dollar (LRD)¹² Naira (NGN)¹¹ Leone (SLL)¹¹ West African CFA franc (XOF)
Time zone	UTC 0 to +2^{^{[citation needed]}}
Calling codes	Not standardized^{^{[citation needed]}}
Official Website	http://www.ecowas.info
¹¹ to be replaced by the eco in 2009 ¹² Libera has expressed an interest in joining the eco

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group initially of sixteen countries, founded on May 28, 1975 when sixteen West African countries signed the Treaty of Lagos. Its mission is to promote economic integration. In 2000 Mauritania withdrew its membership from ECOWAS.

It was founded to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for the member states by means of economic and monetary union creating a single large trading bloc. The very slow progress towards this aim meant that the treaty was revised in Cotonou on 24 July 1993 towards a looser collaboration. The ECOWAS Secretariat and the Fund for Cooperation, Compensation and Development are its two main institutions to implement policies. The ECOWAS Fund was transformed into the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development in 2001

ECOWAS is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community.

Member states of ECOWAS are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The current Executive Secretary is Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas. The current chairman is President Tandja Mamadou of Niger.

1 Members
2 Currency Cooperation
3 Free movement of people
4 Regional Security Cooperation
5 Comparison with other Regional blocs
6 Executive Secretaries
7 Chairmen
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Members

Image:Ecowas map.png

Current members
- Image:Flag of Benin.svg Benin (1975)
- Image:Flag of Burkina Faso.svg Burkina Faso (1975)
- Image:Flag of Cape Verde.svg Cape Verde (joined 1976)
- Image:Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg Côte d'Ivoire (1975)
- Image:Flag of The Gambia.svg Gambia (1975)
- Image:Flag of Ghana.svg Ghana (1975)
- Image:Flag of Guinea.svg Guinea (1975)
- Image:Flag of Guinea-Bissau.svg Guinea-Bissau (1975)
- Image:Flag of Liberia.svg Liberia (1975)
- Image:Flag of Mali.svg Mali (1975)
- Image:Flag of Niger.svg Niger (1975)
- Image:Flag of Nigeria.svg Nigeria (1975)
- Image:Flag of Senegal.svg Senegal (1975)
- Image:Flag of Sierra Leone.svg Sierra Leone (1975)
- Image:Flag of Togo.svg Togo (1975)

Former members
- Image:Flag of Mauritania.svg Mauritania (1975; quit 2002)

[edit] Currency Cooperation

Image:UEMOA and Eco in ECOWAS.PNG

Main article: CFA franc

The West African CFA franc (XOF), created on December 26, 1945, is currently used in six formerly French-ruled African countries, as well as in Guinea-Bissau (former Portuguese colony). It is managed by the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).

Main article: Eco (currency)

The Eco is the proposed name for the common currency the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) plans to introduce on 1 December, 2009. The WAMZ includes the Anglophone countries of Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, and the Francophone nation of Guinea. Liberia is also interested in joining this monetary union. The ultimate goal is to unite the UEMOA and the WAMZ to form a single monetary zone in West Africa (ECOWAS), which Cape Verde would then also join.

[edit] Free movement of people

ECOWAS Travel certificate has entered into circulation in Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
ECOWAS Passport is printed and operational in Benin, Mali and Senegal.

[edit] Regional Security Cooperation

The ECOWAS nations have signed a non-aggression protocol in 1990 as well as two earlier agreements in 1978 and 1981. They have also signed a Protocol on Mutual Defence Assistance, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 29 May, 1989 that was to create an Allied Armed Force of the Community (AAFC) as needed.

See also: ECOMOG

[edit] Comparison with other Regional blocs

**Most active regional blocs**
Regional bloc ¹	Area (km²)	Population	GDP (PPP) ($US)		Member states ¹
Regional bloc ¹	Area (km²)	Population	in millions	per capita	Member states ¹
EU^*	3,977,487	460,124,266	11,723,816	25,480	25
CARICOM	462,344	14,565,083	64,219	4,409	14+1 ³
ECOWAS	5,112,903	251,646,263	342,519	1,361	15
CEMAC	3,020,142	34,970,529	85,136	2,435	6
EAC	1,763,777	97,865,428	104,239	1,065	3
CSN	17,339,153	370,158,470	2,868,430	7,749	10
GCC	2,285,844	35,869,438	536,223	14,949	6
SACU	2,693,418	51,055,878	541,433	10,605	5
COMESA	3,779,427	118,950,321	141,962	1,193	5
NAFTA	21,588,638	430,495,039	12,889,900	29,942	3
ASEAN	4,400,000	553,900,000	2,172,000	4,044	10
SAARC	5,136,740	1,467,255,669	4,074,031	2,777	8
Agadir	1,703,910	126,066,286	513,674	4,075	4
EurAsEC	20,789,100	208,067,618	1,689,137	8,118	6
CACM	422,614	37,816,598	159,536	4,219	5
PARTA	528,151	7,810,905	23,074	2,954	12+2 ³
Reference blocs and countries ²	Area (km²)	Population	GDP (PPP) ($US)		Political divisions
Reference blocs and countries ²	Area (km²)	Population	in millions	per capita	Political divisions
UN	133,178,011	6,411,682,270	55,167,630	8,604	192
Canada	9,984,670	32,507,874	1,077,000	34,273	13
China (PRC) ⁴	9,596,960	1,306,847,624	8,182,000	6,300	33
India	3,287,590	1,102,600,000	3,433,000	3,100	35
Japan	377,835	127,333,002	3,910,728	30,615	47
Russia	17,075,200	143,782,338	1,589,000	8,900	89
USA	9,631,418	296,900,571	11,190,000	39,100	50
¹ Including data only for full and most active members ² The first two states in the World by area, population and GDP (PPP) ³ Including non-sovereign autonomous entities of other states ⁴ Data for the People's Republic of China does not include Hong Kong, Macau and regions administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan). ^* Although the European Union is not a federation in the strict sense, it is far more than a free-trade association or an ordinary regional bloc, and it has many of the attributes associated with independent nations: its own flag, anthem, central bank, currency, elected parliament, supreme court and common foreign and security policy. </center> ██ smallest value among the blocs compared ██ largest value among the blocs compared During 2004. Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database This box: view • talk • edit</div>