ECOWAS
Economic Community Of West African States
The Economic Community of West African States held a virtual meeting on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for ECOWAS Institutions and Specialised Agencies on the 21st of July 2020.The AfCFTA seeks to create a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments, in order to engender the acceleration and establishment of a continental Customs Union.
This analysis aims to uncover the many tricks used by the European Commission to impose the Interim Economic Partnership Agreements of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
Given the present widespread dissatisfaction with investor–State dispute settlement, the ECOWAS Court can provide an alternative to arbitration that is already up and running.
Despite being a major market in West Africa, Nigerian manufacturers have kicked against the exclusion of Nigeria’s priority products from the sensitive and exclusive lists of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement.
Pakistan is already in touch SACU, ECOWAS and EAC to negotiate trade agreements and also plans to take advantage of the opportunities that exists under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
Mauritania will soon implement the free trade agreement with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President El Ghazouani has said.
The 15 bills include the act to ratify the Bilateral Investment Treaty with the United Arab Emirates, the investment agreement with Morocco and the ECOWAS custom code.
The President signed the act ratifying the Economic Partnership Agreement between West African States, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union and its members.
This is the last tranche of the €323 million the EU offered Ghana under the Economic Partnership Agreement.
Latest book by economist Jacques Berthelot insists that West Africa will lose out if it signs the economic ’partnership’ agreement with the European Union.
Mauritania on Friday became the 15th West African country to sign the region-to-region Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union.
The Gambia became the 14th West African country to have signed the region-to-region Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU.
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria very explicitly stated to the new Ambassador of the European Union that Nigeria was determined not to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement for West Africa.
The implementation of common ECOWAS tariff will make Nigeria lose businesses because it means that once a tariff is paid in one country, no other tariff will be paid in any other country in West Africa.
The President said he had been reluctant to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement among ECOWAS countries because of the need to protect the economy, especially the industries and small businesses that currently provide jobs for majority of Nigerians.
Dr Ndongo Samba Sylla is an economist, researcher and programme officer at the Office for West Africa at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. In this interview, he analyses the African Continental Free Trade Area
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria urges the Nigerian government not succumb to the pressure by the European Union to sign the EU-ECOWAS Economic Partnership Agreement as well as the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Turkish Economy Minister has suggested that a free trade agreement will be a key step to boost business ties between Ankara and the Economic Community of West African States.
What will happen if the regional EPA of West Africa is never finalized?
The Economic Community of West African States has called for the creation of a Regional Arbitration Forum as an Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism to boost its economic potentials.
