ISDS Case Map
ECOWAS
Ghana signed an interim trade deal with the European Union on Thursday, joining a rush among poor countries to safeguard exports to the world's biggest trading bloc after preferential terms expire at the end of the year.
Ivory Coast inked an interim trade accord with the European Union on Friday as the bloc pushes for deals with as many former European colonies as possible before preferential trade terms expire on December 31. The top cocoa producer is the first West African country to sign a bilateral deal, breaking ranks with the region's ECOWAS economic community.
West Africa is sticking by its demand for an extended World Trade Organisation waiver for trade with Europe, rejecting an EU call for new interim commercial deals by December 31.
The Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) on Friday served notice to government that it would avail itself of all legal instruments to stop the signing and/or implementation of either the full Economic Partnership Agreement or the EPA-light.
Nigeria could also lose $680 million annually if the agreements were implemented, according to the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria
The European Union has rejected calls by West African states to postpone the end-of-year deadline for concluding a free trade agreement.
India decided on October 16 to extend a line of credit of 250 million USD and 100 million USD worth of agricultural and industrial supplying for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It also agreed to sign within the next six months a bilateral investment promotion and protection treaty with Nigeria.
West Africa will miss a Dec. 31 deadline to sign a new trade partnership with the European Union and hopes to keep its preferential commercial privileges for up to two years while it negotiates, a West African official said.
Amidst controversy, trade liberalisation is fast gaining prominence in Sub-Saharan Africa as the December deadline for the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement draws near. This is attributed partly to the wave of globalisation, regional and bilateral agreements and mainly, pressure from the World Trade Organisation and the European Union.
