LAGOS, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission and Microsoft have signed two collaboration agreements to support social and economic development in Western Africa, according to an ECOWAS statement received here on Tuesday.

    ECOWAS and Microsoft have pledged to work together to develop programs and solutions that promote access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the region, which in turn will help foster competitiveness in key industries and drive employment, as well as institutional capacity building, according to the statement.

    "ECOWAS recognizes the value of using technology to help build strong regional economic communities in West Africa," said Vice President of the ECOWAS Jean de Dieu Somda.

    "Working with Microsoft will help us generate new ideas and initiatives to boost our institutional capacity and economic growth by the smart application of ICT for development," he added. 　

    In addition, the partners agreed to work closely with the national and local governments of ECOWAS member states to develop e-government platforms and promote technology access by providing advice and best practices on relevant policy and regulations. A key aspect of this work will be to build institutional capacity for the ECOWAS and its members states.

    "West Africa is a region full of potential, we welcome the formalization of our partnership with the ECOWAS, as we believe there is no better partner to identify where ICT can be applied in innovative ways to accelerate development in this region," said Dr. Cheick Diarra, Microsoft's Chairman for Africa, according to the statement.

    According to the statement, the two agreements, a Memorandum of Understanding and Technical Collaboration Agreement, focused on enhancing community technology access, driving local enterprise and SME capacity building through ICT, and leveraging the advantages of e-applications in the education and health sectors. The collaboration will also help to promote skills transfer and create a pool of digitally-literate workers.

    It also said that the partnership will accelerate current efforts and programs by the ECOWAS to achieve its mandate of collective self-sufficiency for the member states by means of economic and monetary union creating a single large trading bloc.