Trade experts on Tuesday called on the member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to step up efforts to minimize the burdens that non-tariff measures (NTMs) place on businesses in the region.

Meeting in Côte d’Ivoire’s economic capital, Abidjan, the experts highlighted that countries needed to diversify and increase their portfolio of exports, set up trade obstacle alert mechanisms, and standardize technical and regulatory requirements.

Forming the background for the two-day meeting, officially opened by Jean-Louis Billon, Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Trade, and organized by the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), was a series of business surveys on NTMs in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali and Senegal, carried out by ITC. These explore and identify how NTMs hinder the smooth flow of goods across sectors and markets.

The surveys found that the majority of obstacles faced by businesses are applied by both home countries and by ECOWAS partners. In fact, in the six surveyed ECOWAS countries, 73% of the firms surveyed indicated facing burdensome NTMs (on exports and imports) both within and outside the ECOWAS region. Around 26% burdensome NTMs reported by agriculture exporters are faced in their respective home countries, whereas in manufacturing, 32% of NTM cases recorded are related to obstacles found at home.

For businesses in the manufacturing sector, the surveys found that common obstacles arise in relation to rules of origin and the issuance of certificates of origin – both of which are critical to determine the tariff treatment traded goods qualify for. Meanwhile, in the agriculture sector, conformity with health, safety, and other technical requirements is one of the main obstacles to trade. Conformity assessments include product certification, inspection requirements as well as registration processes.

Commenting on the findings of the NTM surveys, Aicha Pouye, Director for Business and Institutional Support at ITC, said: ‘The average cost of importing a container is 25% higher than the world average, two times higher than in OECD countries and three times higher than in Southeast Asia. Addressing this and other issues related to NTMs is crucial if we are to achieve long-term and sustainable growth across the ECOWAS region.’

‘These surveys on NTMs are a further step towards bringing down barriers to growth across the ECOWAS. Together with the AfDB, ITC will continue supporting the African countries in their efforts to ensure that trade becomes a viable tool in eradicating poverty,’ she said.

Another common finding of the NTM surveys relates to procedural obstacles. They found that many challenges are directly linked to delays and high costs of compliance ad clearance procedures, often because local authorities lack modern equipment.

Stefan Nalletamby, the Acting Vice-President Infrastructure, Private Sector & Regional Integration at the AfDB, said that ‘most of the bottlenecks are related to application procedures that hamper directly regional competitiveness and might be a major obstacle to regional integration and economic development in Africa’.

‘African governments have shown great commitment in putting in place clear and well-intended regulations, now all our efforts will be directed towards the implementation process,’ Nalletamby added.

Pointing to the enormous untapped potential for economic growth in the ECOWAS region, the surveys recommend the streamlining, and where applicable, removal, of NTMs across the member states to promote lower trade costs, which in themselves would be a powerful tool to strengthen regional integration.

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High-level regional roundtable on Non-Tariff Measures

In the framework of the commitments to Africa’s regional integration and the Transparency in Trade Initiative, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Ministry of Commerce of Côte d’Ivoire are taking the initiative to organize a high-level regional roundtable on NTMs in Abidjan, on 14-15 June. The event will bring together delegates from the participating ECOWAS countries and relevant regional organizations to exchange views on opportunities to boost intra-regional trade by tackling regulatory and procedural trade obstacles.

The discussions will build on the various ongoing efforts within the region to facilitate trade and will be informed by the results of exporter surveys conducted by ITC in partnership with national stakeholders in 6 countries in the region, which document private sector experiences with NTMs. This event is intended for high-level representatives from trade ministries, customs authorities and standards and quality management Institutions as well as representatives of regional organisations and development partners. The objective is to formulate concrete actions aimed at reducing trade costs often associated with NTMs.