ECOWAS Trade Minister pushes for standardization to enhance Intra-African trade

Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, the Minister for Trade, Agribusiness & Industry, has alerted her colleague Ministers of Trade & Industry in ECOWAS to speed up the process of  harmonization of standards to promote the exchange of goods.

The Minister issued the call in the course of the 4th Joint Meeting of the ECOWAS Ministers of Trade & Industry which took place in Abuja, Nigeria from 15-16 May 2025.

In accordance with the aims to boost regional trade and spur growth, the 4th Joint Meeting of the ECOWAS Ministers of Trade and Industry targeted multiple  multilateral, continental, regional and bilateral trade issues featuring the outcome of the 13th WTO Ministerial Meeting
(MC13), the status of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), bilateral trade partnership and the Partnership Agreement draft between the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority (ERCA) and Member States on the carrying out Competition and Consumer
Protection Rules within ECOWAS.

Speaking about the reports by the Senior Experts, Madam Ofosu-Adjare showed that 50 years celebration of ECOWAS should consider Member countries to think about the noticeable progress made and set a new direction for the years ahead.

The Minister, as part of her contribution, pointed out the fact that one of the key tenets of ECOWAS is economic self-sufficiency and current geo-political realignment, economic disturbances affecting supply chains adding to global economic strain trends leads to a major challenge to the region.

However, she maintained that, as Ministers of Trade & Industry this was a good time to reset regional trade deficit by taking advantage of AfCFTA and other market access. As per the Minister, AfCFTA has the opportunity to innovate Africa’s economy with a projected GDP of 7% or US$45B by 2035 and to enhance African trade.

On infrastructural and logistics support to boost economic exchange across the region, the Minister drew to attention about the need for a joint meeting between the Ministers of Trade & Industry and Ministers of Transport. She stated that “Our inability to address this as a matter of urgency would undermine the private sectors efforts in deepening our bilateral trade.”

On behalf the ECOWAS Commission, Mrs. Toure-Litse reiterated the dedication of the Commission to continue to foster and accelerate the implementation of economic integration programmes at regional and continental levels, including problems concerning the removal of trade barriers, improvement of regional infrastructure development as well as the implementation of local development projects to promote regional supply chain and capital investment.

Dr. Paul Koffi Koffi highlighted on behalf of the President of WAEMU Commission that WAEMU is totally dedicated to collaborating with ECOWAS to deal with the uncommon problems facing the sub-region.

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