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Friday, March 29, 2024

Nana Calls For Trade Liberalization

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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo shake hands with Lt Gen Salou Djibo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has bemoaned the absence of political will that would make trade liberalization a functioning reality in the ECOWAS region.

The President made this known when the head of the taskforce for the implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS), Lt. Gen. Salou Djibo, who is also a former President of Niger, paid a courtesy call on him at the Presidency.

President Nana Addo said intra-regional trade between members of the European Union (EU) and ASEAN amounted to some 60 percent to 70 percent of GDP, whereas intra-regional trade in West Africa and the African continent amounted to a paltry 10 percent to 11 percent.

He indicated that a buoyant regional market for ECOWAS would boost the development of West Africa, saying “this has to be a very fundamental objective of all of our peoples and governments in the region.”

He said West Africa’s population is set to hit 500 million by 2035.

With ECOWAS having been established some 42 years ago, and trade liberalization agreements being in existence for nearly 40 years, West Africa is yet to reap the benefits of intra-regional trade because the political will to make ECOWAS a functioning reality is not there,” the President said.

Lt. Gen. Salou Djibo explained that ETLS, which was established some 39 years ago, is the main ECOWAS operational tool for promoting the West Africa region as a free trade area.

With low volumes of intra-trade being recorded among West African countries, the head of the ETLS noted that “charity must begin at home. We cannot be trading with others, whilst abandoning our own. It is for this reason that ECOWAS, in March 2014, endorsed a taskforce to move around the region to identify the hurdles and challenges stifling free trade so we can create wealth for our people.”

Gen. Salou Djibo revealed that the taskforce, which has so far visited Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Togo, Liberia, Burkina Faso, was satisfied with the progress made so far in ensuring the realization of the Free Trade Area in West Africa.

He urged President Akufo-Addo to support the mandate and agenda of ETLS and serve as an advocate for the taskforce in ensuring that his colleague heads of state adhere to the implementation and realization of the Free Trade Area.

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