ECOWAS has been a failure – GUTA President

The President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) Dr Joseph Obeng has stated that the Economic Community of West Africa States has been a failure to the Trade Liberalization Agreement and member state countries.

Following the recent happenings among the member state countries with regards to trade activities, Dr Obeng said the ECOWAS was supposed to be the key channel to settle these issues of dispute among the member country concerning trades since there is an Economic Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS).

Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb, the trade president noted that “ECOWAS has been a failure especially since Nigeria listed 45 items …that’s why other countries are following suit. It destroys the whole protocol and especially when they closed their borders at their own will. Even though they might have some reason for doing that, it wasn’t fair to other West African countries and ECOWAS could not prevail upon all these. How can a member state say that they are exiting from the ETLS? ECOWAS has failed”.

Benin has increased duty tariffs on some 45 items being exported to their country and this has made trading activities very difficult in the Sub-Region.

Meanwhile, calls have been made to the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to intervene in the ongoing trade dispute among Benin and other countries.