Mrs Theresa Koroma, Sierra Leone's Deputy Minister of Trade, on Sunday said the weak purchasing power of West Africans was a major reason for poor trade and economic development in the Sub Region.

Mrs Koroma, who led her country's delegation to the closing ceremony of the 10-day third ECOWAS Trade Fair in Lome, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency.

"We have to facilitate trade and industrialisation for increased income for the people, who can then purchase regional goods for a buoyant regional economy to evolve."

Mrs Koroma called for a common customs tariff and currency in addition to the elimination of the numerous checkpoints along Sub-Regional routes to allow free movement of people, goods and services.

She said ECOWAS states must remain focused and committed to the ideals of the ECOWAS trade liberalisation scheme to push trade in the Sub-Region beyond the current 12 per cent level.

Mrs Koroma said Sierra Leone had put its past behind and was committed to assuming its rightful place in the comity of ECOWAS states by re-building the war-shattered economy and to contribute to the integration of West Africa.

She said her country's participation in the Fair was a message to the world that Sierra Leone was still alive.

Mrs Koroma said Sierra Leone's joint trade fair with Ghana in Freetown last October that was followed by a homecoming summit were platforms to put that country in a better shape.

She said the Sierra Leone Chamber of Commerce was preparing to organise another trade fair in April in Freetown and appealed to traders and investors from other countries to participate in it.

Mrs Koroma, who attended a trade fair in Iran, said West Africa could do a lot to expand trade like Iran that organises trade fairs every year in Italy to showcase itself to the rest of the world.

Madam Violette Elliott, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Trade of Sierra Leone, described the Togo Fair as successful but said the location of the fair ground was too far from the business centre of Lome thereby affecting patronage.

She appealed to host countries of future trade fairs to take the location of the fair grounds into consideration to enable more people to patronise them.