TRAINING WORKSHOP FOR UEMOA MEMBER STATES OFFICIALS REGARDING THE OPTIMIZATION OF NATIONAL ECONOMIES PARTICIPATING IN THE MINING SECTOR'S VALUE CHAIN

This report details a training workshop held from September 18 to 22, 2017, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, for government officials from the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) member states. Organized by the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) and the UEMOA Commission, the workshop focused on optimizing national economic participation in the mining sector's value chain through local content policies, employment, infrastructure, and mineral processing.

• Increasing local participation in the extractive sector is identified as having a more significant impact on poverty reduction and sustainable development than the collection of state fees and taxes, creating a multiplier effect.
• Effective legal frameworks for local content should be based on inclusive consultations and predefined national policies. Recommended principles include establishing local content as a general obligation, using mining agreements for implementation, ensuring requirements are the result of negotiation, and creating monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
• To address local employment constraints, it is recommended that non-mining special education curricula be enriched with mining-related courses for professionals like accountants and lawyers. Additionally, the creation of regional specialized schools for mining jobs is suggested to pool resources and avoid over-training technicians beyond sector capacity.
• Increased mechanization in industrial mining is an accelerating reality that may reduce low- or lesser-skilled jobs held by host country nationals by up to 70 per cent in some scenarios. Developing countries are expected to feel these impacts more strongly due to their dependence on mining revenues.
• Regarding infrastructure financing, the creation of a sovereign fund dedicated to infrastructure is described as the most transparent and direct option with the lowest risk, provided there is good governance. Participants unanimously rejected the 'mine-versus-infrastructure' option.
• UEMOA member states generally have not implemented restrictive provisions to limit the export of unprocessed ores. While ECOWAS member states have the flexibility to set export taxes within a prescribed range, this is not widely used in the mining sector.
• Bilateral investment protection and promotion treaties can hinder the implementation of performance requirements, such as local content for employment and goods. It is suggested that states be cautious when signing these binding agreements and instead use national laws to allow for future adjustments.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2017). TRAINING WORKSHOP FOR UEMOA MEMBER STATES OFFICIALS REGARDING THE OPTIMIZATION OF NATIONAL ECONOMIES PARTICIPATING IN THE MINING SECTOR'S VALUE CHAIN. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/uemoa-training-workshop-burkina-faso-sep-2017-en.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. TRAINING WORKSHOP FOR UEMOA MEMBER STATES OFFICIALS REGARDING THE OPTIMIZATION OF NATIONAL ECONOMIES PARTICIPATING IN THE MINING SECTOR'S VALUE CHAIN. 2017. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/uemoa-training-workshop-burkina-faso-sep-2017-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=TRAINING WORKSHOP FOR UEMOA MEMBER STATES OFFICIALS REGARDING THE OPTIMIZATION OF NATIONAL ECONOMIES PARTICIPATING IN THE MINING SECTOR'S VALUE CHAIN |date=2017 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/uemoa-training-workshop-burkina-faso-sep-2017-en.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2017training, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{TRAINING WORKSHOP FOR UEMOA MEMBER STATES OFFICIALS REGARDING THE OPTIMIZATION OF NATIONAL ECONOMIES PARTICIPATING IN THE MINING SECTOR'S VALUE CHAIN}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2017}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/uemoa-training-workshop-burkina-faso-sep-2017-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }