Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Togolese Abroad - Togo
Chief Negotiator of ACP Group for Post-Cotonou 2020 agreement - Professor of Political Philosophy

Prof. Robert Dussey

Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Togolese Abroad - Togo
Chief Negotiator of ACP Group for Post-Cotonou 2020 agreement - Professor of Political Philosophy

ECOWAS / ECCAS Summit: “Everything is ready”, According to Minister Robert Dussey

Lome will be in the limelight in a few days. And for good reason, the Togolese capital houses the joint summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and those of ECCAS and the meeting of ECOWAS Heads of State respectively on July 30th and 31st. In an interview given to our colleagues from the Agence Savoir News, the head of the Togolese diplomacy, Prof. Robert Dussey returned mainly to the organization of the ECOWAS / ECCAS summit. The Minister of Foreign Affairs for African Cooperation and Integration insists that everything is ready for this high-level meeting.

Read below the entire interview.

Savoir News: Minister, everything is ready for this great meeting? If not, what are the last settings?

Robert Dussey: Lome, the Togolese capital is historically known to all, to be the crossroads of major international conferences. This year, we hosted about ten sub-regional and international meetings, including those of the ACP-EU, the 79
of the ACP and the 28 of the EU, and those of two important bodies of ECOWAS, namely the Council of Europe. Mediation and Security, and the Council of Foreign Ministers. The President of the Republic Faure Gnassingbé and his government work to ensure a perfect organization of all major meetings that Lome hosts, and to the satisfaction of all Togolese. At the time I am speaking to you, we are totally ready, and on all levels.

Two meetings took place in recent days in Lomé as a prelude to this summit? Can you come back to these two meetings for our readers? And what did the participants discuss?

As elsewhere, all summits of Heads of State and Government are preceded by several preparatory sessions, including those of experts and ministers. This was the case a few days ago, that is to say on July 10, 11, 2018 in Lomé, where experts from ECOWAS and ECCAS discussed peace, security, stability, the fight against against terrorism and violent extremism, the theme that will be at the heart of the unprecedented Summit of Heads of State and Government of the two Community spaces. Of course, the reflection on this theme has made it possible to scrutinize the security situation in the two Community spaces, but also the national strategies for the fight against terrorism, as well as the legal instruments in this area and the final declaration.

Approximately how many Heads of State and Government are expected at this Summit, as Togo has a strong tradition of mobilizing Heads of State for these major meetings .

A small calculation of the member countries of ECOWAS and ECCAS, and you will know it (laughter)! We are expecting about twenty heads of state and government.

An ECOWAS-ECCAS Summit …. What will be the main topics on the menu?

As I said, debates will focus on peace, security, stability, the fight against terrorism and violent extremism. It will be for ECOWAS and ECCAS to have a strong involvement in securing the two spaces, pledge of all growth prospects or development of our nations. END

Interview by Junior AUREL (Savoir News)

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