Lom©: On the sidelines of the high-level meeting on the new Togo-Sahel Strategy, a significant meeting was held in Lom© involving key representatives from the AES Confederation and ECOWAS. The meeting featured the Minister in charge of Foreign Affairs of Togo, Professor Robert Dussey, alongside his counterparts from Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, as well as the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, and Lansana Kouyate, the ECOWAS Chief Negotiator and former Prime Minister of Guinea.

According to Burkina Information Agency, the meeting, initially informal, aimed to introduce the recently appointed ECOWAS Chief Negotiator to the foreign ministers of the AES Confederation. The objective was to align the perspectives of the AES Confederation ministers with the goals and mission of the ECOWAS chief negotiator.

The discussions focused on preserving the achievements in regional integration and improving the well-being of the populations within these West African regions. The ministers agreed on the necessity of establishing a formal framework to serve as a legal basis for cooperation between the parties involved.

The ministers from the AES Confederation expressed their support for the ECOWAS Chief Negotiator's mission, emphasizing their readiness to contribute in line with the directives from the highest authorities of the confederation. Karamoko Jean Marie Traor©, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso, reiterated the AES's commitment to openness and the shared goal of enhancing the welfare of the West African people.

The meeting also provided a platform for the Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs to express Togo's intention to act as a "bridge" to facilitate dialogue between the AES Confederation and ECOWAS entities.