Dakar - Senegal — A two-day regional workshop on the design, development and implementation of a harmonized programme for the management and/or regulation of informal trade in the ECOWAS region opens in Dakar, Senegal on Tuesday 15th November 2011.

This exercise will be based on a policy agreed by ECOWAS Member States. The ECOWAS Commission on Trade, Customs, Industry and Mines, Free Movement of Persons and Tourism, which is organizing the meeting, has observed that informal trade has become an indispensable tool that could be leveraged to improve intra-community trade, given the huge number of people involved and the range of activities covered. Defined as a set of production units without a business registration number and/or formal written financial records, Informal trade involves businesses operated by non-registered companies. It is not taxed and there are no official statistics on it. According to official estimates, the Small and Medium-scale Enterprise (SME) sector is involved in informal trade, which employs a large number of women, with potential positive impact on poverty reduction and equality between men and women.

The trade is also considered a panacea to business opportunities in cumbersome and capital-intensive formal settings. Given the lack of regulation in the sector and in light of difficulties in the execution of contracts the informal nature eases the risks and vulnerability of stakeholders in informal trade. The Dakar meeting has been informed by these considerations and the fact that informal trade has become an integral part of the African economy given its predominance in both rural and urban areas. Key speakers at the meeting will include Senegal's Trade Minister and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency James Victor Gbeho.