ECOWAS Meeting on Food Crisis

Etim Imisim (This Day)—Regional ministers of trade and industry are scheduled to hold an extra-ordinary meeting in Abuja, on May 8, 2008, to discuss the spiraling cost of basic food items and its impact on West Africa.

Vice President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Jean de Dieu Somda, said this when he addressed ambassadors of member states in Abuja, adding that poor "distribution" was responsible for distortions in the food situation in the region.

While responding to concerns raised by the ambassadors during ECOWAS 18th Mediation and Security Council meeting, Somda said the meeting is expected to propose measures to mitigate effects of the rising cost of food on citizens and develop an intra-regional plan to cope with the situation.

A review of the status of the negotiation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union is on the agenda of the meeting. Security of the region came up in the vice president’s address. The looming food crisis is already causing agitation, which has implications for peace and security in the region. "There have been reported riots in some member states to protest the situation," a statement yesterday from ECOWAS Commission said. A delegation of ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff is due in Nigeria on April 24, to discuss reforms in the security sector. In particular, the situation in Cote d’Ivoire, where elections are expected later in the year, was said to present a major concern for consolidation of peace in the regions.

Meanwhile, the Commission has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Cuba, to implement a regional programme on renewable energy. President of Commission, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, and the visiting Cuban Minister of Basic Industry (MINBAS), Mrs Yadira Garcia Vera, signed the MOU within the framework of South-south cooperation.

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