Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

The Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS, is a regional political and economic union established May 28, 1975 through the Treaty of Lagos, with its founding treaty revised at Cotonou, Benin on July 24, 1993. Headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria, it currently comprises twelve member states including Benin, Cape Verde, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, with Guinea-Bissau suspended and Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso having formally withdrawn on January 29, 2025. The organization pursues collective self-sufficiency through a unified trade bloc and full economic union, aiming to raise living standards and promote economic development while also conducting regional peacekeeping operations, and it operates in English, French and Portuguese.