The Council of Ministers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) opened its 83rd Ordinary Session on the 17th of December 2019 in Abuja, Nigeria.
While welcoming participants to the meeting, President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou emphasised that the meeting offers the Ministers a platform to be presented with an overview of the situation in the Community.
In his welcome address, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Nigeria, 
Ambassador Zubairu Dada urged his colleagues to make fruitful contributions to the issues to be raised in order to provide the ECOWAS leaders, useful information that will guide their decisions as the community moves from an ECOWAS of States to an ECOWAS of the people.
Declaring the session open, the Chair of Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Niger, H.E Kalla Ankourao stressed the dominant importance of examining the state of play in the ECOWAS community and collectively determining “the ways and means of advancing our regional agenda and providing appropriate responses to the various challenges facing us”.
The ECOWAS Council of Ministers will be making recommendations on the various reports on the Community’s financial situation including the Auditor General’s multifaceted reports, memoranda on different thematic areas and those on sectoral Ministers, and integration activities including the examination of the action plan to combat terrorism and it’s financing, among others.
