The 6th annual review of the reforms, policies, programmes and community projects of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) in Côte d'Ivoire opened on Monday in Abidjan and should make it possible to examine 116 reforms, including three new texts.

“The 2020 edition of the annual review will focus on a set of 116 reforms compared with 113 in 2019, i.e. three new texts,” said Mr. N'Galadjo Bamba, technical adviser, representing the Ivorian Minister of Economy and Finance, in a speech opening the session.

These new texts concern the directive on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States concerning excise duties applicable to tobacco, and the decision determining the characteristics and rules for drawing up certificates of origin for products originating in Urquo; Uemoa.

The text of a regulation adopting rules to avoid double taxation within UEMOA and rules for assistance in tax matters was also introduced, said the representative of the Minister of Economy and Finance.

Mr. N'Galadjo said that “with regard to programmes and projects, the 16 projects that were the subject of the annual review in 2019 have been renewed for the 2020 edition”, inviting experts to provide the UEMOA Commission with all the information required for an EA Fair and credible evaluation.

The representative of the Ivorian Minister of the Economy noted that an examination of the 16 projects under implementation in Côte d'Ivoire, worth a total of 63.9 billion FCFA, revealed an average physical execution rate of 66% compared with 61% in 2018, an increase of 5%.

As for the performance index, it went from 58% in 2018 to 49% in 2019, an underperformance that can be explained, overall, according to Mr. N'Galadjo, by “the delays noted in the execution of most community projects and programs.”

Established in October 2013 by an additional act of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of UEMOA, the annual review consists of reviewing the status of implementation of UEMOA reforms, policies, programmes and projects at the national level.

Five annual reviews have already been organized by the UEMOA Commission in 2014; 2015; 2017; 2018 and 2019 respectively. According to Gustave Diasso, UEMOA resident representative in Côte d'Ivoire, they allowed Community texts to be transposed into national law.

With regard to Côte d'Ivoire, the main economic power of UEMOA, the results for 2019 indicate that, out of a total of 113 reforms examined, there was an average implementation rate of 80% compared with 69% in 2018, an increase of 11%.

“In the context of maintaining the achievements made and maintaining, at the very least, the current level of commitment of Member States, the review exercise deserves to be continued despite the quotas imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic”, maintained Mr. Gustave Diasso.

With regard to the implementation of Community acts, the Union rose from a rate of 47% in 2011 to 74% in 2019, representing a qualitative leap of 27 percentage points. However, this result shows the desire for regional integration of the member states.

The UEMOA Commission is reviewing the integration process in member states from 9 November to 18 December 2020. For Côte d'Ivoire, the work, opened on Monday, December 7 in a hotel in the area, should finish on Friday, December 11, 2020.