Tei KONZI

Commissioner for Trade, Customs, Free Movement & Tourism

I would like to welcome you to the ECOWAS Trade Negotiation Capacity Building (TNCB) website which is aimed at improving the visibility of the Project and its achievements, as well as extending its resources to a wider base of stakeholders.

ECOWAS Member States, individually or collectively, are party to a number of bilateral and multilateral Agreements. Furthermore, the number of trade Agreements continues to increase. It is therefore critical that the region is able to effectively negotiate Agreements consistent with its development ambitions, as well as implement existing commitment in order to ensure the preference obtained are effectively utilized.

The ECOWAS Trade Negotiation Capacity Building (ECOWAS-TNCB) project was designed to overcome some obstacles to the efforts of ECOWAS Member States to intervene effectively in international negotiations and multilateral trade agreements. It also aims to build the capacity of the ECOWAS Commission to negotiate on behalf of its Member States. Since its inception in 2003, the project has trained over 500 members in West Africa. The project has also established or strengthened national Inter-Institutional Committees (IIC) on Trade, which serve as a central Committee and a forum for dialogue among key stakeholders from Government and non-Government institutions on the national coordination and management of Trade Policy formulation, implementation and monitoring.

I encourage you to visit the site regularly and benefit from the available resources such as training and network of experts. I also expect that the site will be a platform for networking and sharing experiences.

I wish you happy viewing.