SIGMAT: A Tool for Strengthening Dialogue and Facilitating Trade in Goods Within ECOWAS

Within ECOWAS

Assess and monitor the implementation of the Interconnected System for the Management of Goods in Transit (SIGMAT). These are some of the objectives of the regional meeting opened on Monday 18 November 2024 in Praia, Cabo Verde, on this key tool designed to facilitate the exchange of customs data between the various customs administrations in the West African region.

Organised by the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the meeting also aims to take stock of the deployment and implementation of SIGMAT by these Member States.

It will also examine version 2.0 of SIGMAT and identify the successes and challenges encountered in the efficient implementation of SIGMAT in the Community since its launch in 2019.

Francis Sempore, the Executive Director of the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) and Acting Resident Representative of the President of the ECOWAS Commission in Cabo Verde, opened the conference by urging participants to come up with relevant recommendations to improve the effective implementation of SIGMAT in West Africa.

“Thanks to SIGMAT, West Africa is ready to stimulate trade integration and the interconnectivity of national customs systems to improve the fluidity of cross-border movements of goods”, he said.

He described SIGMAT as a versatile tool that can be adapted to a variety of situations and used to manage different types of transit: international transit, internal transit, multimodal transport, and so on. So SIGMAT offers a wide range of possibilities for everyone.

The Director of Customs for Cabo Verde, Osvaldo Rocha, after thanking the ECOWAS Commission for holding the meeting in Praia, recalled the importance of SIGMAT not only for his country, but also for the other ECOWAS Member States.

“SIGMAT represents an essential tool for modernising our customs administrations, simplifying and harmonising customs transit procedures and promoting greater efficiency in the transport of goods in our region”, he said.

This initiative, he said, is a direct response to the needs of ECOWAS member states, offering an integrated technological platform to improve the control and security of trade along existing transit corridors in West Africa.

Osvaldo Rocha said he was proud to note the progress made in the implementation of SIGMAT in a dozen ECOWAS Member States.

“Cabo Verde will also be taking a step forward, in particular with the implementation of Mobile SIGMAT, which has been identified as the solution best suited to our specific context. With significant inter-island traffic, our reality is particular and requires an agile and flexible system to support customs control operations between islands and between our warehouses and control points”, he said.

Earlier, Bernard Tayoh, Head of the Programme to Support the ECOWAS Commission in the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), expressed his satisfaction at GIZ’s involvement in the SIGMAT initiative from the onset, and at having collaborated with the Commission in its conceptualisation, the development of its prototype, its static and mobile versions, and its launch.

He recalled the material and technical support granted to certain Member States and the ECOWAS Commission by GIZ with the support of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union, with a view to supporting the effective implementation of SIGMAT.

He reaffirmed the commitment of GIZ, in a continuing partnership with the Commission and the ECOWAS Member States, to support regional economic integration through the promotion of regional trade.

After the opening ceremony, the Officer in charge of Rules of Origin and Community Preferential Treatment at the ECOWAS Commission, Mrs Aïssata Yaméogo Koffi, made a PowerPoint presentation on the deployment of SIGMAT in the Community.

Her pertinent answers and those of Salifou Tiemtoré, Director of the Customs Union and Taxation at the ECOWAS Commission, gave participants a more in-depth understanding of SIGMAT.