Hosted at the Laboratory of Studies and Research on Social Dynamics and Local Development (LASDEL) in Niamey, Niger, this regional conference on cross-border co-operation and regional integration covered strategies to address the global migration crisis, increasing securitisation of Africa’s borders in the midst of a growing terrorist threat and demands for regional trade promotion and market development. Read on

During his courtesy visit to the commission president at the ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja, Tunisian Trade Minister Omar Behi expressed a desire to strengthen economic exchanges between Tunisia and West Africa. They discussed several partnership opportunities, and a memorandum of understanding between Tunisia and the regional organisation will be signed during the next visit of president de Souza to Tunis. Read on

The fourth high-level meeting on “Peaceful transhumance and livestock mobility in the Sahel and West African coastal countries” was held by ECOWAS from 27-29 September 2017 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Livestock ministers from across the region endorsed the funding modalities to establish the Regional Investment Programme for Livestock Development in Coastal Countries (PRIDEC), targeting the livestock sector of five coastal countries (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo). PRIDEC is designed to complement the Regional Support Project for Pastoralism in the Sahel (PRAPS). Read on

In an interview given to the Swiss Co-operation and published in the June 2017 edition of Africa Brief, Laurent Bossard, director of the Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat (SWAC/OECD), highlighted some key challenges of cross-border co-operation. He pointed out that half the population of West Africa lives within 100-km of a border, where nothing stops “except the policies." Read on