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ECOWAS official warns members against signing interim deals with EU

Xinhua, August 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The signing of interim Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union (EU) by some member states could undermine the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional economic market, an official said Thursday.

"These interim economic agreements will undermine all efforts so far made to consolidate the regional market," ECOWAS Commission President Marcel Alain de Souza said during the opening of an ECOWAS finance ministers' council forum in Dakar.

The ECOWAS chief revealed that Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire had been authorized by their respective parliaments to ratify the interim EPAs with EU.

According to de Souza, the different ECOWAS sessions that were held since 2009 reiterated the need for cohesion of the African region with regards to the agreements.

"To date, 13 member states out of 15 ECOWAS members have signed the regional EPA. Nigeria and Gambia have not yet signed it," de Souza said, urging member states who have not signed the regional EPA to sign it by January 2017. Endit