9 months ago
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The President, Economic Community of West African States Commission, Omar Touray has lamented the low trade volume among member states.
Touray disclosed this while responding to questions from journalists at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.
Touray noted that compared to developed countries whose intra-community trade is 60 per cent, the region has a long way to go.
“At the moment, our intra-community trade stands at 12 per cent. On the whole in Africa, our intra-continental trade is under 20 per cent which is extremely low.
“If you look at developed countries, countries that are sufficiently integrated or regions that are sufficiently reintegrated, their intra-community trade alone is around 60 to 70 per cent. So we have a long way to go,” he said.
The President advised that the region should produce and export more of its goods to boost the intra-community trade volume.
Touray noted, “This is why it is important that we open our market to our own produce and our own manufactured items.
“To encourage industrialisation, we insist on having sufficient local content in what we produce.”
On peace and security within the region, Touray explained, “We continue to maintain peace support missions in Member States where they are required. We have stabilization forces in the Gambia and Guinea Bissau while another mission is at the preparatory stage for Sierra Leone.
“These preventive deployment of regional stabilization forces are vital for the security and welfare of citizens and community market.
“In the same vein, ECOWAS is also spending considerable resources on fighting terrorism in the region while a major intervention is ongoing on maritime security”, he said.
Touray had in November, urged West African states to safeguard democracy and to restore the region as the bastion of democracy in Africa.
Four countries in the sub-region – the Republic of Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea – are currently under the rule of military juntas, who seized power through coups d’etat, creating fears that democracy could be in danger in West Africa.
Touray, who spoke at the second ordinary session of the ECOWAS Parliament of the year 2023 in Abuja, said the resurgence of coups d’état has challenged the region in more ways, thereby making West Africa reflect on what was not working in its process of consolidating democracy.
