Published: June 16, 2025
MONROVIA, Liberia — Former Executive Director of Liberia’s National Investment Commission, George G. Wisner II, has been invited to present at a special session of the ECOWAS Parliament’s Sixth Legislature in Monrovia, the regional body announced Sunday.
Wisner, also an adjunct lecturer of international development at the African Methodist Episcopal University, will deliver a keynote address and participate in two panel discussions during the Special Committee session set for June 16–20 at the RLJ Kendeja Resort & Villas in Paynesville.
The session, convened under the theme “Assessing the Effectiveness of the ECOWAS Investment Policy as an Instrument for Addressing the Rising Levels of Unemployment in the Sub-Region,” will evaluate how ECOWAS investment policies impact job creation amid worsening economic challenges.
In a letter signed by Acting Secretary-General K. Bertin Some, the ECOWAS Parliament said Wisner would speak on “Investment Climate in the ECOWAS Sub-Region – Analyzing Factors that Influence Investment, Including Regulatory Frameworks, Ease of Doing Business, and Market Conditions.”
Wisner will also serve as a panelist in two sessions: one examining the “Link Between Investment and Employment Creation,” and the other exploring the “Role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Addressing Unemployment.”
The committee session comes at a time when unemployment, particularly among youth, has reached alarming levels across West Africa. A 2023 report from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa put the region’s unemployment rate at nearly 25%, with the African average exceeding 30%. The World Bank has similarly identified West Africa’s youth unemployment rate as one of the highest globally, a key driver of irregular migration from the region.
Other key speakers expected include Massandje Toure-Litse, ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs & Agriculture; Aisha Rimi, CEO of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission; and senior officials from the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development.
Wisner, who previously served as Assistant Foreign Minister for Afro-Asian Affairs under former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, emphasized the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration in tackling the region’s economic crisis.
“It is incumbent upon all state and non-state actors, civil society, and development partners to address the region’s socio-economic challenges in order to avert threats of instability and insecurity,” he said.
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