The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, has called on members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to work towards increasing intra-regional trade to drive development in the region.
He made the call while making his opening remark at the 93rd Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers in Abuja on Thursday.
“Member States must demonstrate a strong commitment to facilitating and improving trade within the sub-region. The current intra-regional trade percentage, which hovers around 12%-13%, is significantly low compared to other regions.
“We must therefore leverage existing instruments to promote greater regional economic cooperation, such as the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) and the ECOWAS Investment Code.
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“We must tackle the issue of Non-Tariff Barriers, operationalise and modernise border posts, and enhance the Joint Border Management process,” he said.
Tuggar, who is the chair of the committee, affirmed Nigeria’s commitment to this process, emphasising the importance of the private sector to have investments and partnerships across the region.
The minister promised to personally lead a delegation of all West African ambassadors in Abuja and relevant ECOWAS Commission officials for a sensitisation programme in Lagos that will serve as an economic forum at the beginning of the year 2025.
Meanwhile, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, lamented that many member states of the regional bloc are not remitting their community levy.
Speaking earlier, Touray said there had been a steady decline in the community levy remittances from member states in the past six years, calling for action by authorities to turn the tide.
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