Omar Touray, the President of the Economic Community of West African States Commission, ECOWAS, has expressed regret over the limited trade volume among member states.
Touray revealed this during a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, while fielding questions from journalists.
Touray pointed out that in comparison to developed nations, where intra-community trade stands at 60 percent, the region still has a significant distance to cover.
“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 proposed that the region concentrate on expanding production and exporting goods to bolster 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.”
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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.
Back in November, Touray had urged West African states to safeguard democracy and reaffirm the region’s legacy as Africa’s democratic stronghold.
At present, four nations in the sub-region—the Republic of Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea—are under the control of military juntas that came to power through coups d’état, raising alarms about the stability of democracy in West Africa.
At the second ordinary session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja in 2023, Touray emphasized how the resurgence of coups d’état has posed challenges for the region, leading West Africa to reassess shortcomings in its democracy consolidation journey.