THE President of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Victor Gbeho, has restated the resolve of the organisation to ensure that only partnerships that promote the West African development agenda are entered into.
In this regard, he told transnational trade stakeholders at the weekend that the ongoing negotiation of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union for the creation of a free trade area of the two regions must contribute to the realisation of West Africa’s development objectives or face review.
Responding to calls for the EPA to make a real start at the opening of a three-phase stakeholders’ sensitisation on the EPA that began in Accra, Ghana, he said: “Let me restate that our regional focus on the economic relationship or partnership agreement with the European Union or any other region for that matter remains immutably economic development, the reduction and eventual
eradication of poverty, sustained regional integration and the ultimate integration of the ECOWAS region into the world economy.”
He noted that the region would also now ensure that such trade arrangements or relationships were “compatible with the rules and procedures of the World Trade Organisation.”…
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