ECOWAS needs stronger cooperation to deal with transnational crimes — Vice-President

Countries within the ECOWAS sub-region need to strengthen regional cooperation in order to deal with money laundering, terrorism and weapon financing.

Since those problems could not be solved alone by individual countries, it was important for the countries to come together as one regional bloc to deal with them.

The Vice-President, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, who made the call, pointed out that the shared challenges in the sub-region required shared solutions, emphasising that illicit flows of money and related crimes often thrived where coordination was weak and institutional presence was fragmented.

She has, therefore, called on leaders and stakeholders in the sub-region to ensure that the regional architecture for combating money laundering, terrorism and weapon financing remained robust, inclusive and forward-looking, adding that the architecture must be capable of addressing emerging threats within stable jurisdictions across the sub-region.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang was speaking at the opening of the second extraordinary ministerial committee meeting of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

GIABA

GIABA, which was formed in 2000, is a specialised institution of ECOWAS charged with the responsibility to strengthen its member states, capacity to prevent and control money laundering and terrorist financing in the region.

GIABA draws its membership from 15 West African states.

The island states of Comoros and Sao Tome and Principe are also members of GIABA though they are non-ECOWAS countries.

The extraordinary meeting was attended by the ministers of Finance, Justice, Interior and Securities and Exchange of member countries.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said parts of the sub-region were experiencing political transitions and those developments had posed complex governance and security challenges, adding that they had reignited important conversations about regional cohesion, institutional engagement and shared fight against transnational threats.

"It is in the light of this that discussions around deepening engagement with all parts of ECOWAS, including those currently in transition, take on renewed importance.

The discussions about the role and status of the Alliance of Sahel States within the group raise further questions about protecting the entire sub-region, closing the gap in intelligence and enforcement and balancing standards with solidarity," she said.

She expressed confidence that as countries in the sub-region engaged in conversations regarding the problems, they would remain guided by a commitment to strengthening regional cooperation, which would be a recognition of their interdependence and belief that every part of West Africa had a role to play in building a secure and prosperous future.

Threat

The ECOWAS Resident Representative in Ghana, Mohammed Lawan Gana, said in the era of rapid globalisation and digital transaction, the challenges posed by money laundering and terrorist financing had grown increasingly complex and those illicit activities were threatening the integrity of national financial systems, funding criminal enterprises and undermining national and international security by enabling acts of violent extremism that claimed innocent lives and destabilised the region.

The Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, said strong political will, coupled with regional solidarity, was essential to tackling financial crimes that transcended borders, pointing out that the Ministry of Finance remained resolute in its support for GIABA's work, particularly in promoting sound financial governance, effective regulatory frameworks and international cooperation.

Anniversary

The Director General of GIABA, Edwin Harris Jr, highlighted the importance of continuous relations with the AES countries for the purpose of intelligence sharing, transaction monitoring, and collective efforts to trace, track and disrupt all terrorists' funding, pointing out that its importance outweighed the concerns of not doing it.

He announced the silver jubilee celebration of GIABA in November this year in Monrovia, Liberia.

The  Chairman of the Inter-ministerial committee of GIABA, Sheku Fantamadi Bangura, who assumed the position at the meeting, said to effectively counter transnational crimes, regional cooperation must be prioritised to close gaps in cross-border coordination, ensuring a united front against illicit financial flows; targeted capacity building to equip national authorities with specialised skills and tools needed to combat the increasing sophisticated financial crimes and establishing robust intelligence-sharing mechanisms and unwavering political commitment at the highest level.