Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye called for regional integration to deliver tangible benefits to citizens as African leaders met in Egypt to coordinate efforts toward deeper continental integration.
Faye, who currently chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), took part on Sunday in the eighth African Union Mid-Year Coordination Meeting between the AU, regional economic communities and regional mechanisms in El-Alamein.
The meeting brought together African heads of state and senior officials to assess progress on continental integration and the implementation of Agenda 2063. The African Union said the meeting aimed to move integration efforts from political commitments toward concrete projects that benefit African populations.
In presenting the situation in West Africa, Faye highlighted projects aimed at strengthening economic links and facilitating the movement of people and goods across the region.
Among the priorities he cited was the planned launch of the single West African currency, the eco, targeted for 2027. He also highlighted the ECOWAS biometric identity card, designed to facilitate travel within the region, as well as progress in connecting the electricity networks of 15 West African countries.
These initiatives are intended to make regional integration more visible in the daily lives of citizens by improving mobility, access to energy and cross-border trade.
The push comes as African leaders seek to remove barriers to trade and strengthen regional value chains. The AU meeting called for further progress on the African Continental Free Trade Area, including the removal of unnecessary non-tariff barriers, improved trade facilitation and stronger cross-border payment systems.
Faye's message comes as ECOWAS continues to deal with the political consequences of the departure of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which formally left the regional bloc in January 2025.
The wider challenge for West Africa is to maintain economic and social links across a region where political relations have become increasingly fragmented.
At the continental meeting, African leaders also stressed that economic integration cannot be separated from peace and security. The AU said persistent insecurity and conflict remain major obstacles to integration and called for stronger coordination between regional mechanisms and the continental peace and security architecture.
The discussions in El-Alamein reflected a broader push by the African Union to turn long-standing integration commitments into projects with measurable economic and social benefits.
AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said Africa's integration agenda must move from aspiration to implementation. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi similarly called for a shift from fragmented efforts toward concrete projects capable of delivering tangible benefits to African populations.
The meeting also highlighted the need for greater productive capacity, infrastructure investment, technology transfer and intra-African trade. Leaders said Africa must do more to process its own resources, develop regional value chains and expand manufacturing rather than remain primarily a supplier of raw materials.
For West Africa, the projects highlighted by Faye from a common currency and biometric identification to electricity interconnection represent some of the practical areas through which regional integration could become more visible to citizens.
But their impact will depend on implementation, financing and continued political cooperation among countries across the region.