The ECOWAS Network of Trade Promotion Organizations Holds its 4th Annual General Meeting in Banjul

The Gambian Minister of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment, Baboucarr Ousmaila Joof, said he was convinced that intra-regional trade could create markets, stimulate industrial growth and generate job opportunities for West African West African citizens. At the opening ceremony of the 4 the Annual General Meeting of the Trade Promotion Organizations (TPO) Network of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas). of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) this Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Banjul, Gambia, he called for the regional efforts to boost trade in West Africa.

“Our collective efforts to promote trade and investment in the ECOWAS region are essential to achieving sustainable economic growth. By working together, we can create a more integrated and prosperous region, where trade flows freely business thrives, and our people enjoy a better standard of living,” he said. “As Minister of Trade and Integration, my participation in this Annual General Meeting gives me the satisfaction and assurance that regional integration is not a utopia, but that it is indeed achievable,” said Baboucarr Ousmaila Joof.

In the same vein, the Ecowas Commission’s Director of Trade, Kolawole Sofola, underlined that trade and market integration are key priorities for the regional regional organization. On behalf of the President of the Ecowas Commission, Dr Oumar Alieu Touray, and the Commissioner Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Mme Massandjé Touré-Litsé, he recalled that the revised Treaty of 1993 calls for the liberalization of trade through various instruments such as the elimination of customs duties within the customs union, the removal of administrative barriers to trade between member states, the establishment of a common a common external tariff and the formulation of a common trade policy.

Mr Sofola also reported on ECOWAS’ ongoing efforts to improve regional trade, such as the formulation of the ECOWAS common trade policy, trade and investment promotion strategy, the strategy and action plan for the elimination of non-tariff barriers, and the regional trade and transport facilitation strategy. “These draft instruments, which are still under consultation, should make it possible to improve intra-regional trade and eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers facing economic operators in our region,” added Kolawole Sofola.”

He praised the West African Economic and Monetary Union’s (UEMOA) Network of Trade Economic and Monetary Union for its cooperation with ECOWAS in the regional integration program and thanked the International Trade Centre (ITC) for its strategic partnership and collaboration in setting up the ECOWAS TPO Network.