The Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission has said modalities have been put in place to ensure enhanced cooperation with its institutions, member countries and development partners.

President of the Commission, Amb. Kadre Ouedraogo, made the statement at the end of a three-day meeting of the 9th ECOWAS–Development Partners Annual Conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

Ouedraogo, who was represented by Dr Toga Mcintosh, Vice-President of the commission, said the commission had agreed to a “three-level coordination platform” for activities at all levels.

“We have reached a consensus on different coordinators both of each mechanism on ECOWAS and development partners.

“We will be operating at the level of the annual meeting of partners which will meet twice a year; then we have five other thematic groupings made out of partners and ECOWAS in different projects.

“This will help us harmonise our approaches on different projects in the different sectors, then we have another level which is the donors’ community which has ambassadors accredited to ECOWAS where we relate directly with our donors.’’

Ouedraogo said “we took note of the fact that necessary arrangements need to be made by all of us to effectively implement the coordination mechanisms.”

He emphasised the renewed commitment of ECOWAS to the implementation of its priorities, adding that the commission would ensure the implementation of necessary recommendations.

“The major recommendation is that ECOWAS should intensify efforts to advance the reform process.

“On the side of the donors, we recommended that they begin looking at sectors where they want to put in their resources and then earmark the funding and try to deal with them.

“The critical thing we are taking from this meeting is that we are all partners with common goals.’’

He also condoled with the government of the United Kingdom on the death of its former Prime Minister, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher who died on a week ago.

Also speaking,  Head of Delegation of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS,Amb. David MacRae, urged the commission to ensure coordinated efforts were made in achieving results in priority areas.

MacRae was represented by Mr Pierre Phillipe, Head of Operations to the European Union Delegation to Nigeria.

He also urged the commission to ensure the effective monitoring of its budget in achieving set targets.

“The European Union and other partners know the challenges the region has faced so it is important that specific emphasis should be made on achieving results in priority areas mentioned.

“There is also the importance of having a forecasting in your budget; budget should be made on a multi annual basis to monitor its release and utilisation,” he said.