The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in collaboration with the West African Health Organization (WAHO), organized on Monday, December 6, 2021, a virtual meeting of sectoral ministers in the context of the upcoming reopening of the land borders of the ECOWAS space. At the end of this meeting, recommendations were made to relaunch commercial exchanges and the mobility of people.

The reopening of the ECOWAS land borders, which have been closed for almost 2 years, is scheduled for January 1, 2022, the date proposed by sectoral ministers in the sub-region. At the end of their work, they recommended the effective implementation of the harmonized ECOWAS directives against COVID-19 at the level of the Member States, the mutual recognition of PCR tests at the borders as well as the harmonization of their duration. of validity and proposed the date of January 1, 2022 for the reopening of the borders. Also, the ministers examined the priorities, the technical options and the relevant accompanying measures at the regional level for the reopening of the borders which integrate the imperatives of human security. Finally, they adopted the draft standard procedure applicable to the continuity of border operations in the event of incidents, and the modalities of cooperation and synergies at different levels.