ABSTRACT
The Authority is the supreme decision-making organ of the Community, with responsibility for its general development and realization of its objectives. The inaugural session of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, based in Abuja, Nigeria, was held in November 2000. In February 2020 the ECOWAS Authority stated great concern over prolonged closures by the Nigerian authorities of that country’s frontiers with Benin and Niger to all movement of goods. An ECOWAS directive on Securitization of Payments Related to Cross-Border Power Trade in West Africa entered into effect on 1 January 2020. In February regional energy ministers, experts and World Bank representatives met to consider related policy. ECOWAS promotes implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and supports programmes initiated at national and subregional level within the framework of the treaty. An ECOWAS Counter-Terrorism Strategy and Implementation Plan, and Political Declaration on a Common Position against Terrorism, were endorsed by the Authority in February 2013.
