West African regional organizations have promised "concrete support" to help lift Guinea-Bissau from the economic and financial quagmire it has experienced in recent years, Guinea-Bissau's President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira has said.

According to a report reaching here on Monday, a statement released at the weekend from the office of President Vieira, who returned to Bissau Saturday after a four-day trip to various West African states, said the Guinean leader has received aid pledges for the cash-strapped, coup-prone nation.

The statement said that the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) and the West African Development Bank (BOAD) will form a joint commission to visit Bissau soon to draw up an "emergency plan" aimed at providing financial assistance to Bissau's beleaguered exchequer.

The report said the decision of the regional financial bodies was in direct response to an appeal made to a summit of West African leaders in Niamey, Nigeria, by President Vieira for help to pay state sector wages to keep essential services running in his country.

Guinea-Bissau, the world's sixth-poorest nation according to UN figures, has endured a deepening economic crisis and various coups since emerging from a costly civil war in 1999.

Source: Xinhua