Member countries within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Africa as a whole have been admonished to facilitate trade among themselves before seeking other avenues for solutions

The call by the Chairman of ECOWAS, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo comes at a time that the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement is being implemented with Ghana being the host secretariat.

But Mr. Akufo-Addo believes trading among West African member countries will foster job creation, boost investments and offer economic development.

“I urge all of us in the community to work towards the day when all of us will look to doing business first in West Africa and Africa before looking into Europe, Asia, and the Americas because we have the men and women, the goods and the services and the quality.”

“We are determined to enter into a new era of industrialization and have access to a single continental market. We will be a game-changer on that market as it will be the key to the ability of businesses on the continent to recover from the adverse effect of COVID-19 and proceed to grow in leverage of the new opportunities available to the market,” Akufo Addo intimated.

The ECOWAS chairman said this in his address at the 60th Independence Anniversary celebration of Sierra Leone in Freetown.

Implementation of AfCFTA

The AfCFTA agreement is expected to see a much-reduced tariff regime that will enable traders, exporters, and small and medium enterprises to transit their goods and products efficiently.

The Intra-African trade pact will see that 90 percent of all goods that are traded will enjoy a tariff-free regime for all countries that have signed agreements and deposited their instruments of AfCFTA ratification.

So far, some 54 out of 55 African countries are participating in the single trade market pact making it the largest number of member countries participating in any trade deal since the formation of the World Trade Organization.

Accra-Ghana currently serves as the Secretariat of AfCFTA with its headquarters commissioned and handed over to the African Union by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in August 2020.