Date: February 11-12, 2008
Location: Hotel Novotel, Conakry, Guinea
Organizers: World Bank, ECOWAS, West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Agence Française de Développement (AFD), African Development Bank (ADB)
Event hosts: Government of Guinea and the World Bank

Participants and objective
Over 200 participants met in Conakry for a two-day conference to discuss challenges and opportunities to promoting regional sustainable mineral sector development, as reflected in the Forum agenda. They included governmental, private sector, and civil society representatives from all West African countries and the Central African Republic.

Summary of discussions, declarations, and agreements
The discussions focused around key issues where a more harmonized regional approach would be useful, such as legal and regulatory frameworks, revenue management, regional infrastructure development, community development, and environmental and social aspects of mineral development. Presentations given at the Forum are available here. 

At closing, the representatives of the international organizations released a Joint Donor Statement – the Conakry Declaration - agreeing to support West African governments in promoting

sustainable mineral sector development and building capacity. This will be done through the establishment of an Extractive Industries Policy and Transaction Advisory Facility and launching a sub-regional program to harmonize fiscal and regulatory regimes for mining and to introduce an integrated approach to regional economic planning and mining-related infrastructure development.

To help highlight key regional environmental and social issues, West Africa Mineral Sector Strategic Assessment will be undertaken. This is a participatory policy dialogue that will engage stakeholders in the region, including governments, donor agencies, civil society, local communities, and the mining industry.

The represented governments also signed a Joint Governmental Statement inviting the organizing institutions to implement the Conakry Declaration (English, French).