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UNCTAD supports ECOWAS preparations advancing continental negotiations to boost intra african trade


16 - 18 May 2017
Accra
, Ghana

UNCTAD together with the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union Commission, will provid technical support to the ECOWAS Experts Meeting on the Continental Free Trade Area Trade in Goods and Trade in Services Modalities.

The meeting is expected to facilitate ECOWAS to develop a regional position for the CFTA negotiations.

The 15 Member States gather to take stock of advancements in the CFTA negotiations and discuss how the agreements can be designed to create new production, export and business opportunities for the region's development. Progress has been achieved in implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme, Common External Tariff and trade in services regulations and the CFTA presents an opportunity for scaling such progress to continental level.

For the CFTA to deliver utilizable opportunities, it will have to be grounded in developmental regionalism- a concept UNCTAD has argued should drive regional trade integration in developing countries, and one which prioritizes design of instruments that support the creation of opportunities for structural transformation, building productive capacity and strengthening forward and backward linkages for transformative industrial development.

The CFTA negotiations, moving into their 6th phase, are set to unlock the potential for intra-African trade through bringing down barriers to intra-African trade with an initial focus on goods and services to be completed by an indicative date of 2017.

UNCTAD provides technical support in the form of training, analysis and advisory services to the CFTA negotiations.

The meeting takes place with the generous support of GIZ Support to ECOWAS Programme.

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Co-organizer(s):
UNCTAD, ECOWAS and the African Union Commission

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