The European Union (EU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have signed an agreement in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, under which the EU would provide 37 million Euros for the construction of three joint border posts in West Africa. The President of the ECOWAS Commission, James Victor Gbeho and the Deputy Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr. Kazimierz Romanski, signed the agreement, according to a statement released on Wednesday in Accra by the Delegation of the European Union to Ghana. Under the agreement, two joint border posts would be constructed along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor on the Nigeria-Benin border (Seme-Krake) and the Togo-Ghana border (Noepe) under the responsibility of ECOWAS. One joint border post would be constructed on the Benin-Niger border (Malanville) under the responsibility of West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), whose membership is French-speaking West African countries. "Technical studies have also been finalised under the project to facilitate the construction of four additional posts subject to the availability of future financing," the statement said. It said the creation of these joint border posts was a fundamental step towards reaching the double objective to facilitate crossing at the borders by speeding up formalities and to establish enabling conditions for the eventual lifting of borders. "These new posts will have an adequate layout and infrastructure to facilitate the completion of crossing formalities. Thus, they will become catalysts to encourage the countries' services to manage border posts more effectively." The statement quoted Mr Gbeho as describing the joint border posts as "important tools for facilitating border formalities at the affected borders within the context of the regional protocol on the free movement of persons and goods through which we intend to liberalise the intra-community movement of citizens so that they can avail themselves of the opportunities in the region to create jobs, contribute to the improvement of the economy and generally improve the welfare of the citizens". Mr Romanski said: "The EU is pleased to celebrate the recent signature of these contracts which mark the start of a critical phase for a flagship West Africa-ECOWAS project, which should result in increased trans-regional commerce and economic growth." The statement said the contracts recently signed by the EU, ECOWAS and UEMOA were part of the EU support to West Africa's regional activities in the area of transport facilitation under the 9th European Development Fund (EDF) 2000-2007, for a total of 82 million Euros. These funds, it said, supported various activities in the road, railways, maritime, and aviation sectors with a view to facilitating the free movement of persons and strengthening intra-regional trade. "In addition, the project also supports building the capacity at ECOWAS and UEMOA and the participation of Non-State Actors in transport facilitation issues." Under the 10th European Development Fund (2008-2013), the EU has allocated a total of 597 million Euros for the support to the regional integration process in West Africa. The EU has also allocated a total of 402 million Euros in support to Ghana for the same period.Source: GNA