Ad hoc Experts' Group Meeting on the Common External Tariff and the Economic Partnership Agreements in the ECOWAS area

Abstract

The Sub-Regional Office for West Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Government of Burkina Faso are organising an Ad hoc Experts’ Group Meeting on May 16-17 in Ouagadougou on “The impact of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff and the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union on the structural transformation of economies and regional integration in West Africa”. The main objective of this ad hoc meeting, which will be held two years after the implementation of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) by Member States and the approval of the EPAs by the Summit of Heads of State and Government on July 2014 in Accra, including the entry into force of the interim Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) for certain countries in West Africa, is to share experiences and considerations on the effective and potential implications of the implementation of these two initiatives on structural transformation and the process of regional integration in West Africa.