Accra, Dec. 17, GNA - Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, Senior Minister in the New Patriotic Party government on Wednesday bemoaned the failure of West African leadership to build ECOWAS into a durable economic block. He condemned the ECOWAS' huge investment in peacekeeping activities in the sub region since its inception in 1975 and urged current sub-regional leaders to change the tide in favour of building durable and efficient economic institutions.

Mr Mensah, who was speaking at the opening of the 13th Meeting of the Convergence Council of Ministers and Governors of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) in Accra noted that, "ECOWAS is an economic community and not a military pact.

"The price that we pay for security as a necessary background condition for economic progress should not overshadow the economic benefits," he added.

Mr Mensah said it was noteworthy that similar regional integration efforts in Southern, Eastern and Central Africa had yielded "much more tangible results than our efforts in West Africa.

"We need to redouble our efforts and diversify our modalities beyond the one-track European Union style model that we have tried to copy so far."

He indicated that in other parts of the world, such as the ASEAN, the Inter-American and Pacific areas, other models were being pioneered that could be well worth our study.

Mr Mensah said "recent experiences of the EU in applying its own rules of economic convergence should alert us to the need for a discreet and realistic approach to the issues of convergence among countries. "Our undertakings towards each other should be formulated with a sober appreciation of the vulnerability of our economies in Africa to unpredictable but powerful external influences," Mr Mensah emphasized.

Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary in a speech read for him commended Ghana, the Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the five countries for their commitment to the convergence programme but urged them to discipline their fiscal and monetary policies to make them not only to qualify but also to remain in the convergence criterion. He said 2005 would be a crucial period for the five states and asked them to work hard to make the mark.

"I know that the search for a convergence criteria is a difficult one, but I plead that we stick to regular consultations and cooperation to make it," Dr Chambas stated.