>From Kwaku Osei Bonsu, GNA Special Correspondent, Bamako

Bamako, Dec. 14, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor and his Malian counterpart, President Amadou Toumani Toure, have called on all ECOWAS member states to ensure effective implementation of the ECOWAS Plan on the trade liberalization and the protocol on the free movement of people and goods.

This was contained in a communiqu=E9 issued at the end of President Kufuor's three-day official visit to Mali on Wednesday. It said the two leaders re-affirmed their commitment to sub-regional integration and also emphasized the necessity to work continuously for the establishment, preservation and the consolidation of peace and security in West Africa.

The communiqu=E9 said President Kufuor and President Toure, after exhaustive discussions on security and development issues of Africa, expressed satisfaction with their common position on those issues as a whole.

It said they renewed their determination to promote Africa integration and pledged support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) as a credible alternative for the integrated development of the continent.

On Ghana/Mali relations, it said the two leaders directed their Foreign Ministers to re-activate their Permanent Joint Commission to promote increased trade and investment for the mutual benefits of their countries.

President Kufuor was in Mali to renew the historic bond of friendship that had existed between Ghana and its Sahelian neighbour over the years.

The Foreign Minister, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, and some other senior government officials accompanied him.