ECOWAS President Chambas to visit Finland

Press release 101/2009
3 April, 2009

Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), will visit Finland on 6–7 April.

During his visit, Dr Chambas, who is from Ghana, will have talks with Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb about the political situation in West Africa. Topics of discussion will include, among others, the unstable situation in Guinea-Bissau and Guinea and its causes. Chambas serves as a mediator in both countries.

During the visit, he will also have talks on cooperation between Finland and ECOWAS. Finland is a financier of the ECOWAS Small Arms Control Programme, which strives to ward off conflicts in the region. Finnish expert Anna-Liisa Korhonen is participating in the work to prevent the spread of small arms.

The purpose of President Chambas’ trip is also to learn about Finland’s experiences of training in peacekeeping and Finnish know-how of civilian crisis management and mediation.

ECOWAS was established in 1975 to promote economic cooperation in West Africa. The organisation has 15 member states and its headquarters are located in Abuja, Nigeria. ECOWAS is currently negotiating about a regional trade agreement with the EU. In recent years the organisation has played an increasingly stronger role in the sector of peace and security, owing to the civil wars fought in West Africa. ECOWAS has sent troops to the regions’ peacekeeping missions. It is developing a conflict early warning system and is an active participant in training readiness troops for regional crisis management and African Union peacekeeping missions.

Additional information: Ambassador Anna-Liisa Korhonen, Administrative Services, tel. +358 9 1605 5429, and Counsellor Pirjo Virtanen, Department for Africa and the Middle East, tel. +358 9 1605 5526