Togo‘s parliament has passed a motion requesting that the government submit a formal application to join the Commonwealth, which is made up mostly of former British colonies.
The country is already a member of the Economic Organisation of West African States (ECOWAS) and the International Organisation of La Francophonie, which is a group of French-speaking countries, the majority of which are former French colonies.
“Togo is not leaving the Francophonie. It will only strengthen the English teaching programmes and reactivate other partnerships,” speaker of parliament Yawa Tsegan said.
The administration was invited to submit its application for Commonwealth membership at the bloc’s next meeting in Rwanda in June, according to the resolution agreed on Friday.
In 2014, the West African country began the process of joining the Commonwealth. Togo, country of western Africa. Lomé, the capital, is situated in the southwest of the country and is the largest city and port.
Until 1884 what is now Togo was an intermediate zone between the states of Asante and Dahomey, and its various ethnic groups lived in general isolation from each other. In 1884 it became part of the Togoland German protectorate, which was occupied by British and French forces in 1914. In 1922 the League of Nations assigned eastern Togoland to France and the western portion to Britain.
In 1946 the British and French governments placed the territories under United Nations trusteeship. Ten years later British Togoland was incorporated into the Gold Coast, and French Togoland became an autonomous republic within the French Union. Togo gained independence in 1960. The economy rests largely on agriculture, although the country’s extensive phosphate reserves are also significant.
