Meeting between the Director of ECA in West Africa and the 3rd Vice-President of the National Assembly of Niger: The promotion of the use of ICTs in the ECOWAS space at the centre of discussion

By Dada Ahmed

Niamey (Niger), November 4, 2020 – The 3rd Vice-President of the National Assembly of Niger, the Honourable Ayouba Hassane Farmo, on behalf of the President of the institution, His Excellency Mr. Ousseini Tinni, had a working session on Tuesday with the Director of the Sub-Regional Office for West Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (SRO/WA-ECA), Mrs. Ngone Diop.

The Reporters gathered that the meeting was part of the preparations for the second edition of the Interparliamentary Forum on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the ECOWAS region, which will be held in Niamey on November 5-7.

The meeting has the ”Role of parliamentarians in the struggle against cybercrime in the area of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)” as theme.

Honourable Ayouba Hassane Farmo thanked the Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe, for the important support of the ECA to the National Assembly of Niger.

According to the President of the ICT Network of the Nigerien Parliament and Principal Commissioner for the Forum, the National Deputy Salifou Mayaki, who was present at this meeting, “Everything is ready for holding this Forum, which will see approximately 80 guests from abroad.

He added that the meeting would include 40 parliamentarians, around ten human resources from the ECOWAS parliament, around twenty experts and media personnel.”

The Director of the SRO/WA-ECA, Ngone Diop, recalled that her institution and the National Assembly of Niger had established a partnership framework for the organisation of a Forum on ICTs in the ECOWAS region held on May 3-5, 2017 in Niamey, Niger.

While welcoming the quality of this strategic partnership, Diop declared that it fell within the framework of the ECA’s fundamental mission of supporting regional integration and the promotion of international cooperation for the development of Africa.

After welcoming the active participation of Niger in the negotiations which led to the conclusion of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) of which His Excellency Mr. Mahamadou ISSOUFOU, President of the Republic of Niger is the Champion, the Director of the SRO/WA-ECA reiterated the availability of the ECA to continue its partnership with the Government of Niger.

For more information, please contact: Tahirou Gouro, Communications Officer, ECA-SRO/WA,

Email: gouro2@un.org

Sub-Regional Office for West Africa.

Source: ECA