ECOWAS Pavilion, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria
President of the ECOWAS Commission
His Excellency Dr. Omar Alieu Touray serves as President of the ECOWAS Commission, having been appointed by the Authority of Heads of State and Government at the 61st Ordinary Session in Accra on 3 July 2022 for a four-year term. He is a Gambian diplomat and development professional whose career spans national foreign affairs, multilateral institutions, and regional integration. Before assuming his current role, Dr. Touray served The Gambia as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the African Union and as Ambassador to Ethiopia, with concurrent accreditation as High Commissioner to Kenya and South Africa. He also held the post of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (March 2008 – September 2009) and earlier served as the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. In his professional journey, he has worked with major international organizations and development finance institutions. He joined the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) in Jeddah in 2012 and previously served as Regional Policy Advisor at the United Nations World Food Program’s Regional Bureau for East and Central Africa, as well as consultant for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Development Program Gambia Country Office. At ECOWAS, Dr. Touray has placed significant emphasis on regional reforms and integration advancing digital entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystems, supporting cross-border special economic zones, improving the ease of doing business, and promoting infrastructure development, energy access, and trade facilitation. He has publicly discussed the ECOWAS 25-year regional infrastructure master plan, which encompasses hundreds of projects spanning transport corridors, energy systems, and telecommunications. He also emphasizes peace, security, and regional cooperation as foundational to sustainable investment and development. Dr. Touray holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and studied Finance and Islamic Finance at IE Business School in Madrid. He is the author of works such as The African Union: The First Ten Years (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016) and The Gambia and the World: A History of the Foreign Policy of Africa’s Smallest State (Hamburg African Studies Series, 2000). He speaks English, French, and Arabic, and continues to lead the ECOWAS Commission’s efforts to deepen integration, strengthen infrastructure, and promote inclusive growth across West Africa.