Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye presented the latest on West African integration at the African Union’s eighth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting in El-Alamein, Egypt, highlighting plans for a regional single currency, stronger security cooperation, and easier movement of citizens.
Faye attended Sunday’s meeting in his capacity as the current chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), where African Union leaders and representatives of regional economic communities reviewed progress on continental integration and the implementation of the AU’s Agenda 2063 priorities. The meeting opened in El-Alamein on October 4.
In his presentation on West African integration, Faye pointed to the “Pact for the Future” adopted by ECOWAS leaders in Lungi, Sierra Leone, in July as a framework for building a more resilient regional bloc.
The pact is part of wider efforts to reshape ECOWAS and strengthen regional integration after years of political, security and economic challenges. ECOWAS has described the initiative as a forward-looking framework built around economic transformation, peace and security, science and technology, opportunities for young people and women, institutional reform and the region’s strategic position.
A major part of the agenda is the proposed ECO single currency, which ECOWAS leaders have committed to launching in 2027. The July summit in Lungi decided that the currency would initially be introduced in countries that meet the required economic convergence conditions and are ready to participate. Other countries would receive support toward meeting the criteria.
Faye also highlighted measures intended to make movement across West Africa easier, including the ECOWAS biometric identity card. He pointed to progress in connecting electricity networks across 15 West African countries as another area of regional cooperation.
Security remains a central concern for the bloc. Faye said ECOWAS was strengthening its collective security mechanisms in response to terrorism while continuing dialogue with the Alliance of Sahel States in an effort to preserve relations between West African peoples and protect the gains made through regional integration.
His remarks also addressed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with Faye calling for greater efforts to ensure African economies benefit from the continent’s resources by processing more raw materials locally and developing infrastructure corridors linking markets.
The Senegalese president also praised Ghana and Togo for their role in advancing African positions at the United Nations, including a declaration on the trafficking of Africans and the “Correcting the Map” resolution.
Faye’s appearance comes as Senegal leads ECOWAS during a period of institutional change. He assumed the chairmanship of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government at the bloc’s July summit in Lungi, while Senegalese General Birame Diop subsequently took over as president of the ECOWAS Commission.
Under Senegal’s leadership, Faye said ECOWAS wants to bring its members closer together and place citizens at the centre of the regional integration project, as the bloc works to turn its latest commitments into practical economic, security and mobility measures.
