Vice President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has opened a two-day ECOWAS Ministerial Meeting on Regional Cooperation and Security, bringing together Heads of State and Government, Ministers, and Intelligence Chiefs from across the sub-region.
In her keynote address, the Vice President underscored the inseparability of diplomacy and security, noting that contemporary threats such as violent extremism, terrorism, organised crime, and cross-border insecurity demand transnational responses.
“We require integrated approaches that align security strategies, foreign policy, and development agendas. Fragmented, siloed responses are no longer sufficient,” she said.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang stressed the importance of timely information sharing, joint analysis, and coordinated responses, describing prevention as both practical and cost-effective. She urged ministers, security officers, and intelligence chiefs to design regional initiatives with clear implementation strategies, strong institutions, and alignment with national priorities.
“Without these, cooperation risks remaining aspirational rather than operational,” she cautioned.
Several Heads of State are already in Accra and are expected to join President John Dramani Mahama for a high-level session on Friday. The outcomes of the ministerial deliberations will shape the agenda for the leaders’ discussions.
The Vice President further called for a rethinking of Pan-Africanism, framing it as a security and economic imperative rather than an abstract ideal.
“No country can secure itself in isolation. This moment presents an opportunity to rethink Pan-Africanism not as an abstract ideal, but as a security and economic imperative, grounded in cooperation, adaptability, and shared progress,” she concluded.
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