By Alimat Aliyeva

The Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS) will lose over about 45 billion West African CFA francs (more than 68.6 million euros) each year due to the withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger from the union, Azernews reports, citing the Minister of Economy and Finance of Burkina Faso, Abubakar Nakanabo.

"ECOWAS will also suffer because the transition from 15 to 12 countries [within the association] will inevitably lead to a loss of income," the minister said in an interview with the AIB news agency.

According to him, the consequences of Burkina Faso's withdrawal from the association for the country's economy "will not be significant." The Minister stressed that the three West African states, having withdrawn from ECOWAS, stopped participating in the multilateral format of cooperation, which will not affect the bilateral relations of the countries of the region.

"Relations between countries are largely based on interests. If countries have an interest in working on economic issues, I think it will work out," Nakanabo added.

On January 28, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announced a joint decision to withdraw from ECOWAS as soon as possible. The joint statement of the three countries stressed that ECOWAS "is under the influence of foreign powers, becoming a threat to the member states and their peoples."

All three countries have submitted official notifications of withdrawal from the organization to ECOWAS.