The ECOWAS Court of Justice has invited Sierra Leone’s Chief Justice, His Lordship Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards to share his wealth of experience in Cabo Verde on ‘ECOWAS Integration Model: The Legal Implications of Regionalism, Sovereignty and Supranationalism’.
Hon. Chief Justice Edwards left the country over the weekend for the ECOWAS Integration Model International Conference which started on Monday, 9th May, 2022 and will end on Wednesday, May 12, 2022.
The conference focuses attention on the integration process of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the legal implications of regionalism, supranationalism and the limitation of the national sovereignties of Member States in relation to a supranational organization like ECOWAS, a Regional Economic Community (REC) in the West African sub-region.
In his welcome address on behalf of the Court, the President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Hon. Justice Edward Amoaka Asante thanked all participants for leaving their busy and important work in their respective countries to attend the conference, adding that without them there will be no successful conference.
According to Sierra Leone’s Chief Justice, the types of Regional Economic Integration range from Free Trade Areas, Customs Union, Common Market to Economic Union. The level of integration involved in an Economic Integration Initiative can vary enormously from loose association to a complex and completely integrated economic union.
“It also creates physical and institutional infrastructure, supranational policies and Institutions for the integration project,” he said whilst referencing the Concept note.
He added that Regional integration has therefore been organised either through supranational institutional structures or through intergovernmental decision making or a combination of both.
Regional Integration makes it possible to lift a large part of the population out of poverty, enhance economic development and improve the living standards of the people. It can reduce the cost of trade, increase trade and employment opportunities, improve the availability of goods and services and increase consumer purchasing power in Member States. On the other hand, there could be the risk of trade diversion, employment shifts and reductions and loss of national sovereignty, as the Member States may have to give up more and more of their political and economic rights to a supranational authority and supranational actors.
Keynote address was delivered by the Guest Speaker, Prof. Solomon Ebobrah.
Source: Judiciary Communications