The Daily Observer (Banjul) November 7, 2002 Posted to the web November 7, 2002 Banjul President Jammeh yesterday led a high-powered delegation to the Fourth Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ). The meeting is scheduled from November 6-8 in Guinea (Conakry). The agenda for the summit includes a date for the take-off of the Common Central Bank, selection of Headquarters of the Central Bank and the contribution to the capital of the Central Bank. Presidents John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana, Lansana Conte of Guinea, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone are expected to attend. Others attending the summit would be President Pedro Verona Pires of Cape Verde, Charles Taylor of Liberia and Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary of Ecowas. Single monetary zone The decision to adopt a West African Monetary Zone as part of the Ecowas effort to introduce a Single Monetary Zone by 2004 was made at a meeting of Heads of State of six West African countries two years ago in Accra. The summit is being held in preparation of the adoption of a monetary union for West Africa to facilitate trade and movement for the socio-economic benefit of the 250 million people in the sub-region. Alongside the head of states summit, there is a meeting of the members of the Convergence Council of Ministers of WAMZ. The summit was preceded by a technical experts meeting from November 3. Last June the Eighth Convergence Council of Ministers and Governors of the West African Monetary Zone Meeting was held in Accra on the adoption of a single monetary unit by the sub-region. With the monetary union, resources in the sub-region would be pooled to create a larger regional market, increase trade, significantly improve domestic and foreign direct investment and create more jobs that would lead to a higher standard of living. The president of the Ecowas Bank for Investment and Development, Director-General of the West African Monetary Agency, director general of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management and the director general of WAMI would also attend. Convergence criteria for members include the achievement of a single digit inflation by 2003, a foreign exchange reserve covering imports for not less than three months. Additionally, their budget deficit to their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should be less than five per cent, while their Central Banks credit to their governments should be less than 10 per cent of the previous year's tax revenue. None of the countries have fully met the convergence criteria. Though, The Gambia achieved these last year, it has slipped. _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~