Four ECOWAS countries sign

Talent mobility MoU

Abuja – 14 December 2016

West African governments participating in the Intra-African Talent Mobility Partnership (TMP) Programme will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at an official ceremony on Thursday, 15 December in Abuja, Nigeria, at the sidelines of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Ordinary Council of Ministers meeting.

Ministers from the four State Parties to this MoU, namely Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Sierra Leone, are expected to sign the MoU during an official signing ceremony to be witnessed by other ECOWAS member states, members of the diplomatic corps, the media and development partners notably the World Bank.

Running for three years now, the TMP programme is a voluntary undertaking by selected African countries spearheaded by Mauritius in the Eastern and Southern Africa sub-regions and Ghana in West Africa. The partnership seeks to establish Schengen-type or other similar mechanisms on talent mobility and skills development to accelerate economic integration and achieve open borders and common policies and laws in Africa. The Partnership will support participating countries to address constraints on intra-African labour mobility and skills development gaps that reduce Africa’s attractiveness as an investment destination and related overall economic growth performance.

The African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) is the Sub-grantee and the Secretariat for the West African sub-regional programme. The objectives of the MoU are as follows:

1. Facilitate the movement and employment of skilled persons and professionals among the State Parties.
2. Establish streamlined and transparent procedures for immigration application formalities for the temporary and permanent residence and employment of persons to whom the MoU applies.
3. Eliminate explicit schemes that limit employment access to skilled persons and professionals across the State Parties.
4. Adopt a common legislative and regulatory framework for granting residence and work permits.
5. Protect the integrity of State Parties’ borders as well as the domestic labour force in the territories of State Parties.

For detailed information, contact Bright Gowonu, West Africa Programme Coordinator, bgowonu@acetforafrica.org