On Thursday, October 9, 2025, in Abuja, Nigeria, Dr Kalilou Sylla officially assumed office as Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture at the ECOWAS Commission. He was sworn in during a ceremony presided over by the President of the Community Court of Justice, Hon. Justice Ricardo Cláudio Monteiro Gonçalves, in the presence of members of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, who were meeting in an extraordinary session on the same day.
Dr Sylla, who succeeds Ms Massandjé Touré-Litsé and will serve until July 2026, holds a doctorate in economics and has occupied several senior positions in his home country, most recently as Director-General of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Trade and Industry. His areas of expertise include economic and monetary policy, integration programmes and projects, strategic planning, agricultural policy and development project management, marketing and analysis of agricultural value chains, and coordination of research and economic analysis.
He also specialises in project financing across agriculture, industry, and trade in both the public and private sectors, as well as within civil society at national and regional levels. In addition, Dr Sylla is well-versed in matters of economic integration and governance and has published scientific works on regional integration, economics, and agriculture.
