African leaders have time and again stated that present-day engagement with the rest of the world, particularly the donor community, must focus on trade and not aid. Many countries in the developing world, Africa inclusive, have had to seek aid, with its attendant conditionalities, to balance their budgets.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are two of the blocs that were put together on the continent to promote trade among the member countries and their development partners.
It is more frustrating to do business between Ghana and Togo, for instance, than to export to Europe and America. A simple travel from Accra to Lome can take hours, with many road blocks along the route. In pursuit of their selfish interests, border officials put impediments in the way of various governments to promote their agenda of integration on the continent.
Perhaps the lack of understanding of the rationale behind these trading blocs has necessitated the call on the leaders to bring these agencies closer to the people.
Besides the gathering of Heads of State and Government in West Africa, there are other gatherings that bring the leaders and their peoples together. The ECOWAS Trade Fair is one such forum where captains of business and industry meet with their political leaders to share ideas on deepening the integration process.
At the opening of the seventh ECOWAS Trade Fair in Accra last Thursday, the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, called on African leaders to remove artificial bottlenecks that hindered trade among their respective countries.
We share in this concern expressed by the Vice-President but we appeal to him to use his good offices to put in place the necessary structures, in partnership with other African leaders, to implement such a laudable idea.
The Daily Graphic appeals to the leaders of ECOWAS to walk the talk of integration, so that there can be more economic interactions between the people of the region to promote trade in order to benefit from the advantages of an expanded market.
