Ad hoc Experts Group Meeting of West Africa 

Niamey, February 13, 2015 (ECA) On March 16-17, 2015 the King Fahd Hotel in Dakar (Senegal) will host the Ad Hoc Experts Group  Meeting coming from 15 Member states of West Africa, the Regional Economic Communities, the ECOWAS, the WAEMU, the MRU, Inter-Governmental Organizations and representatives of the private sector and of civil society, around the theme, “ infrastructural integration and theirs impacts on the Free-Trade Zone in West Africa”.

Organized by the Sub-Regional Office for West Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa  (ECA/SRO-WA) together with the Government of Senegal, the objectives of this meeting are to conduct and analytical review of regional infrastructures and integration in West Africa in the sectors of transportation, energy, information and communication technologies (ICT) and financial infrastructures through the identification of the  characteristics, challenges and constraints related to their supply and demand and the assessment of their impact on the deepening of regional integration, in particular sub-regional trade. The Meeting will also discuss the constraints and challenges related to the development, execution, financing, monitoring and evaluation of regional infrastructure projects while conducting a diagnosis of the factors, challenges and constraints for the optimization of the contribution of regional infrastructures to sub-regional integration and the development of the ECOWAS countries in the context of the sub-regional Free Trade Zone.

It will deal broadly with the audit of the political, institutional and regulatory context of the development of integration infrastructures at the national and sub-regional levels, focusing on its strengths, weaknesses and opportunities regarding the requirements of regional integration. The Ad Hoc Meeting of the Group of Experts will also discuss best practices and successes in the identification, implementation, financing, monitoring and evaluation of regional infrastructures and the rationalization of their contribution to intra-regional trade and to development.

On the conclusion of two intense days proceedings, relevant recommendations will be adopted and submitted to decision-makers and other stakeholders for the consolidation of sub-regional infrastructures and the optimization of their contribution to the processes of regional integration in West Africa.