page_title: Economic Community of West African States
section_title: Membership
hierarchical_section_title: Economic Community of West African States / Economic integration / West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) / Membership
caption_attribution_description: English: EBID HQ in Lomé, Togo. (Permission sought from the author)
context_page_description: The Economic Community of West African States, also known as ECOWAS, is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of 5,114,162 km², and in 2015 had an estimated population of over 349 million.
  The union was established on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, with its stated mission to promote economic integration across the region. A revised version of the treaty was agreed and signed on 24 July 1993 in Cotonou. Considered one of the pillar regional blocs of the continent-wide African Economic Community, the stated goal of ECOWAS is to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for its member states by creating a single large trade bloc by building a full economic and trading union.
  The ECOWAS also serves as a peacekeeping force in the region, with member states occasionally sending joint military forces to intervene in the bloc's member countries at times of political instability and unrest. In recent years these included interventions in Ivory Coast in 2003, Liberia in 2003, Guinea-Bissau in 2012, Mali in 2013, and The Gambia in 2017.
  ECOWAS includes two sub-regional blocs:
context_section_description:  Benin (Founding Member)
   Burkina Faso (Founding Member)
   Ivory Coast (Founding Member)
   Guinea-Bissau (Joined on 2 May 1997)
   Mali (Founding Member)
   Niger (Founding Member)
   Senegal (Founding Member)
   Togo (Founding Member)
caption: ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development headquarters in Lome.
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