A discussion session on regional economic integration was launched on Monday 16 March in Conakry by the Minister of Cooperation and African Integration, Dr. Djènè Kéita. She had at her side, members of the government, the Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea, the resident representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Union and the Ambassador of Ghana.

In his speech, the Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea (BCRG) Dr. Lounsény Nabé spoke widely on the creation of a single currency for the area of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

According to Governor Dr. Lounsény Nabé, the idea of creating the ecowas common currency dates back to 1983.

"It was put forward at the ECOWAS Conference of Heads of State and Government held in Conakry. This project took shape in December 2000 with a two-speed approach that consisted in creating a second monetary zone bringing together the countries that were not members of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) with the desire to converge these two sets to build the ECOWAS monetary union. In the long term, this convergence should allow that after all forms of harmonization, that we can create at the level of ECOWAS, a common currency, "he recalled.

Continuing, he said that the creation of this municipality was initially planned for 2003. But due to difficulties and convergence criteria, he said, the deadline was postponed first to 20O5, then 2009 and then 2015.

"With these multiple postponements and with the prospect of accelerating the process of creating a single currency, the Heads of State and Government decided to return to the approach said at a speed at an extraordinary ECOWAS summit held on 25 October 2013 in Dakar, Senegal. This approach was to go directly towards the creation of the ECOWAS single currency by 2020. Since adopting this approach, ECOWAS has made significant progress in monetary integration. Significant progress has been made with the choice of the name of the future common currency "ECO", the adoption of a flexible exchange rate regime with an inflation-targeting monetary policy framework and a federal system for the common central bank whose name has been In the meantime, the Central Bank of West Africa (BCAO)," he explained.

Notwithstanding this progress, Dr. Lousény Nabé affirmed that difficulties remain with regard to compliance with the convergence criteria and the long-term inclusion of this respect. "The modalities of the transition from the national currency to the single currency, the transition from the fixed exchange rate regime to the flexible exchange rate regime for WAMU countries," he said.

In the same logic, he made it clear that the African Union (AU), noting that the vicious circle of underdevelopment could only be broken by industrialization, has begun in recent years to give itself an increasingly increased importance to this issue.

"Today, digitalization has become essential for the development and growth of the competitiveness of international economic relations. By way of illustration, e-commerce in Africa is growing at an annual rate of 40%. The digital economy is expected to reach more than $300 billion by the end of 2025 thanks to the rapid development of new information and communication technologies," he said.

Questioned, the resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Guinea, Luc-Joël Grégoire said that this meeting is a beautiful and commendable initiative. "It is about dialogue, exchange and strategic reflection for development through integration. The exchanges were of a high level, important topics were raised. These periodic meetings will allow an exchange on the challenges of international cooperation, on the integration of the world market and on the dynamics of regional cooperation," he noted.

During this working lunch, the Minister of Cooperation and African Integration, Dr. Djenè Keita recalled that in 2019, there were three extremely important meetings in Guinea to which our country had leadership at the level of integration. For her, good regional integration is certainly that of goods and people. But also, it specifies, it requires financial and monetary economic integration. "The 53rd session of the Economic Commission for Africa has as its theme this year, industrialization and sustainable diversification in the digital age", he announced.