Amb. Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo, on Thursday in Abuja, assumed office as the new President of the ECOWAS Commission.
He takes over from the immediate past president of the commission, Amb. Victor Gbeho of Ghana.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, which had commissioners of the commission and staff in attendance, Gbeho said the period marked a change in the life of the commission.
He also urged the staff to cooperate with the new president.
In his own address, Ouedraogo, expressed readiness to work towards achieving the ideals of the sub-region.
He called for improved cooperation towards achieving ECOWAS’ vision of transforming the sub-region into a peaceful and secure environment by the year 2020.
“To those fathers that say that West Africa must be a leading power for the realisation of African unity, I pledge to be a part of them and to do my best to make sure that their dreams come true.
?“Let us come together against poverty, injustice; let’s work hard to build a community, which all of us shall be proud of. ECOWAS must become a land of peace, unity and progress.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Ouedraogo was appointed President of the ECOWAS Commission at the 40th Ordinary Summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government.
The summit approved the appointment of Ouedraogo as the new president of the ECOWAS Commission for a four-year non-renewable term.
Until his recent appointment, Ouedraogo, a national of Burkina Faso, had served as Ambassador and Plenipotentiary of Burkina Faso to the Kingdom of Belgium and The Kingdom of the Netherlands.
He was also at the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland in the same capacity.
He was also Burkina Faso’s Permanent Representative to the European Union, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and the World Customs Organisation.
Ouedraogo served as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) in Dakar, Senegal, between 1993 and 1996.
Between 1996 and 2000, he was his country’s Prime Minister after serving as Minister of Economy and Finance (1996/97).
A recipient of the award of Grand Officer in the National Order of Burkina Faso in 1996, he was elected Member of Parliament in 1997.
NAN also recalls that Ouedraogo served as the Deputy Executive Secretary of the then ECOWAS Secretariat in Lagos from 1985 to 1993, before it was relocated to Abuja and renamed a commission in 2007.
He is fluent in French, English, and Spanish. (NAN)