ECOWAS Reports Major Strides In Trade, Investment and Regional Integration At 2025 Parliament Session
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Alieu Touray, has announced sweeping progress across trade, investment, monetary cooperation and social development, signalling renewed momentum toward deeper regional integration.
He presented the achievements while delivering the 2025 Annual Report on the State of the Community at the Second Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja.
Dr Touray revealed that 96 new companies and 120 products were approved this year under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), with a new digital portal now operational to simplify the identification of registered firms and community goods.
He added that the SIGMAT goods-in-transit system has been deployed in all Member States except Cabo Verde, with an e-hub in Lomé already connecting six countries, including Nigeria and Ghana.
On strengthening the common market, the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority (ERCA) advanced work on consumer protection regulations and handled 21 merger notifications, issuing decisions on 13. Progress also continued on the region-wide survey of the cement sector, while Benin adopted a new competition law with the support of ECOWAS.
Significant gains were recorded in investment integration as the ECOWAS Common Investment Market (ECIM) structures became fully operational.
The West African Securities Regulators’ Association (WASRA) Charter was revised to pave the way for a Regional Securities Regulatory Authority, while tourism operators, MSMEs and women-led enterprises received training on ECOWAS trade and market access.
In industrial development, the Commission adopted 58 new regional standards in the textiles sector and validated certification programmes for products such as attiéké and reinforcing bars.
Registration of the ECOWAS Quality Mark (ECOQMARK) has been completed in regional IP offices and is advancing at the global level.
Dr Touray further disclosed major progress towards the ECOWAS Monetary Union, including joint multilateral surveillance missions across Member States and the production of the first Single ECOWAS Macroeconomic Convergence Report.
Three legal instruments on debt management, public accounting and monetary union participation are scheduled for adoption in December.
On public finance harmonisation, assessments of procurement practices have been completed in five countries.
Meanwhile, new frameworks on budgeting and statistical harmonisation, covering national accounts, price statistics and trade-in-services data, have been endorsed by the Council of Ministers.
The report also highlighted efforts to promote inclusive and sustainable development.
Over 100 stakeholders were trained on the Women, Peace and Security agenda, while dozens more benefited from anti-trafficking and protection-related capacity-building programmes.
ECOWAS has also boosted support for women cured of fistula, providing USD 250,000 each to Guinea, Senegal and Sierra Leone, and committing more than USD 953,000 to local production of sanitary products in Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Senegal.
Dr Touray reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to building a stronger, more competitive and more integrated West Africa driven by economic cooperation, institutional convergence and people-centred development.
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