Lomé, Togo, currently hosts the 53rd ordinary session of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (IPC-WAEMU). The 10-day session focuses on the Union’s 2023 annual operation and progress report.

According to Togo’s parliament, the meeting aims to enable WAEMU deputies to better understand how the ICP operates and is organized. It also aims to inform them about the economic challenges and development issues facing the Union's member states, so they can help tackle these issues more efficiently.

At the session’s opening, Fonnona Coulibaly, VP of the IPC WAEMU, said the meeting provides "an opportunity to assess the progress made in 2023 and to reaffirm our determination to collectively address the new challenges we will face in the new year."

During these discussions, IPC-WAEMU members will address the renewal of the IPC bureau and sub-committee bureau members for the year 2024. They will also discuss key topics such as the installation of the interim IPC president, the parliamentary seminar on the examination of the 2023 report from the UEMOA commission on the operation and evolution of the Union, along with a note of observations from the IPC, as well as the 2023 annual report on the operation and evolution of the Union.

Togo earns about CFA20 billion per year from exporting cashew and cashew derivatives. Representatives of the sector’s national council, the CIFAT, disclosed the information on March 14, which was the National Cashew Day in Togo. 

According to Agridigitale, which quoted the representatives, every year, between CFA17 billion and CFA20 billion are generated through export, thanks to the sector’s 50,000 stakeholders including 31,500 farmers.”

The data was shared in Kpalimé, in the Plateaux region, where the National Cashew Day was celebrated.  On the same day, the country launched the sales campaign for its cashew and cashew-derivated products.

Last year, Togo produced close to 40,000 t of cashew (38,880 t), up from 23,000 t in 2019. Observers expect the upward dynamic to be maintained this year.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

A World Bank delegation is currently in Togo meeting various local stakeholders in the vegetable and poultry sectors. The mission started on March 14 and will end on March 22, 2024. Its focus is to improve the cold chain in both sectors. 

In detail, participants will assess existing cooling infrastructure, and based on their assessment, draw strategies to tackle issues and improve the cold chain. At the end of the mission, a cold chain investment strategy will be drawn as well. 

The mission aligns with the Bank’s Food System Resilience Program in West Africa (FSRP). The program, which benefits from a $50 million financing from the World Bank, should foster food security and help boost agricultural output.

Esaïe Edoh

Togo received nearly a million euros from the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) in 2023. The exact amount was €991,960, according to Prof. Kangni Alemdjrodo,  Advisor to the Togolese President on the Permanent Council of La Francophonie. 

The official, who disclosed the information earlier this week, detailed that the funds backed a wide range of projects, educational, and cultural, but also projects for economic and sustainable development.

Over the past year, some of the projects both sides worked on include an economic and commercial mission of the Francophonie in the Eastern Mediterranean, two sustainable development projects in Ogou 1 and Haho (valued at CFA53.3 million), and the "La Francophonie with Elles" initiative. The latter supported four Togolese projects with around CFA107 million.

CFA450 million for public reading

Over the same period, the OIF also supported public reading with over CFA450 million allocated for "the French language in the service of cultures and education." This includes support for the operation, animation, and monitoring of the first network of 12 Centers for Reading and Cultural Animation (CLAC); as well as helping set up the second CLAC network in Togo. 

According to Prof. Kangni Alemdjrodo, the various projects "highlight the vitality and visibility of this cooperation" between Togo and the OIF; a cooperation "which is emerging as a true instrument of support for our development programs."

The OIF implements Francophone multilateral cooperation in 88 states and governments worldwide. The organization was established in 1970 in Niamey on March 20 (under the name of the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation (ACCT)).

This year, for the day of the Francophone, on March 20, the organization picked the theme: “Creating, Innovating, and Enterprising in French”.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Lomé hosts this week a 7-day regional workshop on tax digitalization. Organized by the IMF’s Regional Centre for Technical Support (AFRITAC), the meeting aims to bolster financial and macroeconomic capacities in West Africa, with a focus on digitalization.

Representatives from the eight WAEMU States, Guinea, Mauritania, and experts from the IMF’s Financial Affairs Department and the AFRITAC are taking part in the workshop. The theme is “Digitalization Strategies to Enhance Population Control in West Africa”, and the goal is to help concerned countries enhance their tax base control through digitalization.

At the workshop’s launch, Akou Afidenyigba, the cabinet director of the Togolese Minister of Finance, emphasized Togo’s efforts regarding digitalization. 

Among others, he mentioned the launch of a national strategy for digitalization, in line with the government’s roadmap. The 2025 Togo Digital Strategy includes initiatives like the Novissi cash transfer program and the e-ID Togo project. The former supports the country’s most vulnerable people and the latter aims to provide each citizen with a unique biometric ID number. 

AFRITAC’s West African branch was born in 2003. Based in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), it aims to meet African leaders’ demand for greater technical support. The Centre supports five regional institutions and 10 member States, knowingly: Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal.

Various ministers from Togo and Burkina Faso held a meeting last week in Lomé. The two sides talked about their mutual desire to boost their trade relationship. To do this, they want to focus on fluidifying movement along the Lomé-Ouagadougou corridor. 

On the occasion, the participants identified some roadblocks to this ambition and made some recommendations to overcome them. 

Nous avons, avec mes collègues chargés du commerce, et de l'économie maritime, reçu ce mercredi 13 mars 2024, une délégation Burkinabè conduite par le ministre des transports.

Cette rencontre d'échanges vise à faciliter les transports sur le corridor crucial Lomé - Ouagadougou.… pic.twitter.com/jaPEnrm9OJ

— Affoh ATCHA-DEDJI (@AffohAtcha) March 14, 2024

The stakes are high for Togo since Burkina Faso is one of its biggest trade partners. According to the National Institute of Statistics of Togo (INSEED), Burkina Faso was the country’s second-biggest client in Q4 2023. That quarter, the exports from Togo to Burkina Faso were valued at CFA21.6 billion. 

Before the meeting with the Burkinabe delegation, Togo held a similar meeting with Niger’s officials. The goal was the same: to bolster trade between the two nations.

Esaïe Edoh

Seventy new health centers are being built across Togo's Kara, Plateaux, and Central regions. Jean-Marie Tessi, Minister of Universal Health Access, kicked off the works at the end of last week, in Kuma-Adame (Kloto prefecture).

Building the facilities falls under the SSEQCU, a project that aims to make basic health services accessible to all. 

Before the construction began, the government issued a tender to recruit businesses that would carry out the works. 

The facilities will cost CFA8.3 billion to build and should be completed within six months.

According to Minister Tessi the health centers will help provide quality health services to the most vulnerable people across the country. They thus contribute to the government’s Universal Healthcare project which entered its operational phase last January.

Esaïe Edoh

The World Bank-backed West Africa Food System Resilience Program (FSRP) directly benefited 261,501 people in 2023. That is around 160,000 more than aimed for the year reviewed.  

The program’s goal is to make actors of the food system of the country, farmers mainly, more resilient and to help beneficiaries better tackle food insecurity. 

The project focuses on three axes: investment in climate-smart agriculture at the farm and landscape level; promoting an enabling environment for value chain development and intra-regional trade, and strengthening regional capacity to manage agricultural risks.

At the regional level, the FSRP directly impacted 1.28 million people, 37% of whom are women. 

Deployed in seven countries, the program benefits from overall funding of $570 million, with additional funding in some countries.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi