USAID, Partners Boost ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme

2 August 2011
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Economic Community of West African States (Abuja)
press release

Abuja — Two pilot Border Information Centres, an initiative by the USAID West Africa Trade Hub, will be launched on Thursday, 4th August 2011 in Aflao (Ghana) and Kodzoviakopé (Togo) as a major contribution to the implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS).

The ETLS is a regional mechanism for improving intra-Community trade in locally produced goods towards boosting the regional economy, stimulating employment and thereby contributing to the overall development of the region. Transport costs in West Africa are considered among the highest in the world, constituting a serious constraint to business across the region and a disincentive to local and foreign investments. With the support and close collaboration of the Governments of Ghana and Togo, ECOWAS, UEMOA, and private sector companies engaged in trade across the region, and around the world, the USAID Trade Hub developed the pilot initiative to tackle the primary cause of delays and corruption in West African cross-border movements. The Aflao Information Centre is hosted by the Ghana Shippers' Authority, one of the West Africa Trade Hub partners, while the Kodzoviakopé Centre is hosted by the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization (ALCO), which is funded by the World Bank and has worked with the Trade Hub since 2009.

Similar Centres are envisaged at the Ghana-Burkina Faso border at Paga-Dakola and at the Senegal-Mali border at Kidira. The objective is to reduce transport costs, reduce if not eliminate delays in paperwork processing, prevent duplicative processes/procedures, and improve collaboration/coordination of enforcement agencies. The launch will take place in an open-air venue at Aflao at the Ghana-Togo border and will include visits to the Ghana Shippers' Authority office, and subsequently at the ALCO office. Ministers of State of Ghana and Togo, ECOWAS and UEMOA representatives, the U.S. Ambassador to Togo as well as representatives of Foreign Investors, Borderless Alliance, USAID staff and implementing partners, are expected at the occasion.

Read the original article on Ecowas.

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