Mr Abroulaye Fofana, Permanent Secretary of the Ivorian Inter-ministerial Committee for State Action at Sea was received in audience on Monday 15 May 2023 in Abuja, Nigeria, by H.E Omar Alieu Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission. Mr. Fofana came to introduce the Permanent Secretariat of the Ivorian Inter-ministerial Committee for State Action at Sea and provide an update on the activities of the “G7++ Group of Friends of the Gulf of Guinea” currently co-chaired by his country and Germany.
During the meeting, Mr. Fofana also called for the support of ECOWAS to revitalise and strengthen the governance of the Yaoundé Architecture and mobilise financial partners.
It is recalled that in June 2013, the Heads of States of ECOWAS, the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC) met in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to lay the foundations of a common regional strategy to prevent and combat illicit activities in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea. The Yaoundé summit culminated in the formulation of three mechanisms: the Yaoundé Code of Conduct, the Heads of State Declaration and the Memorandum of Understanding between regional organisations. These instruments guided the development of the Yaoundé Architecture.
In the same year 2013, the “G7++ Group of Friends of the Gulf of Guinea” (FoGG) was created to support the Yaoundé Maritime Security Architecture, developed under the Code of Conduct on the Prevention and Suppression of Acts of Piracy, Armed Robbery against Ships and Illicit Maritime Activities in West and Central Africa by the three regional organisations – ECOWAS, ECCAS and the GGC. The Code, also known as the Yaoundé Code of Conduct, was initially adopted by 22 Heads of State or their representatives in Yaoundé, Cameroon in June 2013. There are now over 25 signatories.
In addition to the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America), the G7++ FoGG includes Belgium, Brazil (observer), Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the European Union, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and INTERPOL. Originally focused on anti-piracy issues in the Gulf of Guinea, the G7++ FoGG has since extended its scope to cover all illegal activities at sea such as illegal fishing or several types of trafficking ( human, drugs, arms, animals and natural resources, etc).
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Source: Apo-Opa
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