By Alhagie Jobe in Dakar
Liberia president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been appointed as new chair for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) replacing President Macky Sall of Senegal who’s term has ended.
The chair of the Commission is appointed by the Heads of State and Governments to manage the affairs of the sub-regional bloc for a period of one year. President Sall who’s mandate has ended was elected chairman of the sub-regional bloc at the 47th summit of the organization in Accra, Ghana on May 19, 2015.
Madam Sirleaf who is the 24th President of Liberia and in office since 2006, was unanimously elected at the end of the 49th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.
According to ECOWAS rules, any country’s leader elected to this position will automatically make the Foreign Affairs minister of that country become the chairman of the Council of Ministers. Therefore, Liberia will now chair all other statutory meetings (ministerial, experts and technical committees) of the bloc during the year.
Summit agenda
Prior to the election of President Sirleaf, the leaders witnessed the swearing in ceremony of the new President of the ECOWAS Commission Marcel A. de Souza.
Among the issues discussed are the report of the 76th Ordinary Meeting of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers and 36th Ordinary Session of the Council on Mediation and Security.
They also reviewed the memorandum on the status of negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between West Africa and the European Union, as well as issues relating to the signing of a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) between ECOWAS and Turkey.
