President Akufo-Addo to end 2nd-year stewardship as ECOWAS Chair
Ghana will host the 61st Ordinary Session of the Authority of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government in Accra on July 3, 2022, at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel.
The Summit will mark the end of the second-year stewardship of President Akufo-Addo.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who is also the Chair of the Authority of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government will host his colleagues 12 ECOWAS member states.
President Akufo-Addo assumed the Chairmanship of ECOWAS on September 7, 2020, in Niamey, Niger after Mahamadou Issoufou, former President of Niger, had ended his stewardship.
In June 2021, the mandate of President Akufo-Addo was renewed by his peers for another year based on his sterling leadership and to complete ongoing institutional reforms geared towards the reduction of the number of Statutory Appointees of the ECOWAS Commission from Fifteen (15) to Seven (7) as well as streamline operational cost.
Among many others, the Summit would be dedicated to examining and taking decisions on the political, security and humanitarian situations in the Region.
Most notably, the Summit shall review the current state of affairs in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso, suspended from the organisation, following the unconstitutional changes of government in the three countries.
Preceding the summit, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and Chair of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, will host her colleague Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence and Security for the Mediation and Security Council Meeting in Accra on June 29, 2022, at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel.
The Mediation and Security Council Meeting shall provide updates on the political developments in the region, especially in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso, as well as, in the Sahel Region.
They would also provide updates on the overall climate of insecurity, challenges relating to youth unemployment and the impact of diseases and pandemics on social tensions in the Region.
Ms Ayorkor Botchwey will also host her colleagues and Finance Ministers on Thursday, June 30, 2022, and Friday, July 1, 2022, at the ECOWAS Council of Ministers Meeting to, among others, discuss and make recommendations on the finance, administration, as well as, the programmes and activities of the ECOWAS institutions to the Authority of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government for adoption.