Accra, June 13, GNA - The Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition, a trade and agriculture advocacy organization, on Friday commended government for the reduction in the number of barriers on the highways corridors linking member states.

However, it said, more should be done to cut down on challenges that increases the transaction cost of doing business in the region. Mr Ibrahim Akalbila, Coordinator of GTLC, told a press conference that Ghana by virtue of its position had a singular opportunity to speed up the process of moving the integration process forward and transform the region from 'ECOWAS of states into ECOWAS of people by 2020.' This, he said, the country could do by strengthening her existing relationship with Burkina Faso, in particular, into concrete endeavours that would test and transform systems necessary to facilitate the integration process.

GTLC in support of the position of ECOWAS and government had in the past three years be working with partners in Burkina Faso to bring to fruition the development aspirations of ECOWAS for the benefit of the peoples.

A durbar on the theme: Effective regional Integration for better and sustainable development is to be held in Burkina Faso to further give impetus to the integration process.

As a first step, Mr Akalbila said government could build on the existing tomato trade between the two countries by creating joint enterprises in the cultivation, production, processing and marketing of tomato in the sub-region.

This will facilitate the exchange of views and provide a platform to expand other cooperation that could serve as a blue print of a working integration process that serves the people, he said.

Mr. Akalbila, therefore, called on governments of Ghana and Burkina Faso to work together to set up a joint enterprise on tomato production and processing using the existing facilities located in Ghana at Wenchi and Pwalugu.

There must also be a mechanism to establish a system that ensures a realistic purchase price of tomato taking into cognizance the real cost of production of farmers.

Mr Akalbila called for the active participation of citizens in the sub-region in the implementation of the various protocols to give meaning to the integration process.

He said the active participation of citizens across the region would make real the ECOWAS strategic vision, which seeks to convert West Africa into a borderless region.

The second ordinary session of ECOWAS Parliament in September 2007, envisaged the creation of a 'region-wide space for people to transact business and live in dignity and peace under the rule of law and good governance.'

Member countries of ECOWAS are signatories to many protocols, including the ECOWAS Trade and Liberalisation Scheme and the ECOWAS Common Agriculture Policy, but these accords, at best had remained virtually unimplemented. Mr Akalbila said the region had within the existing framework the capacity to overcome the challenges of stagnated development. This could only happen when the people and governments of the region create and take advantage of the opportunities to develop, he added.