P romoting W est A frican T rade I ntegration (WATIP) Support to the - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

P romoting W est A frican T rade I ntegration (WATIP) Support to the Implementation of the ECOWAS FTA Borderless Alliance Conference, Abidjan May 21, 2015 Implemented by Amanda Bisong, Advisor Trade and Customs, GIZ

STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENTATION • INTRODUCTION – ETLS, CET, Trade facilitation • CURRENT STATUS - Challenges • WATIP FOCUS • SUPPORTED ACTIVITIES • THE WAY FORWARD This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 2

ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme ETLS created in 1975 focused on movement of Agricultural products & handicrafts. The Scheme was expanded in 1990 to include industrial products. This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 3

ECOWAS Common External Tariff CATEGORY TARIFF NUMBER OF TARIFF LINES Category 0: Basic social goods 0% 85 Category 1: Basic Goods, Basic Raw 5% 2146 Materials, Capital Goods and Specific inputs Category 2: Inputs and intermediate 10% 1373 goods Category 3: Final Consumer Goods and 20% 2166 Other products not classified elsewhere Category 4: Specific Goods for Economic 35% 130 Development This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 4

Trade Facilitation Transparency Simplification Trade Facilitation Harmonization Standardization This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 5

INTRA REGIONAL TRADE IN ECOWAS 30 25 20 000 million $ 15 10 5 0 2008 2011 2013 000 million $ 19.184 23.44 27.221 This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 6

NUMBER OF ETLS APPROVED PRODUCTS PER YEAR Chart Title Number of Approved products 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Approved per year 148 131 186 416 Number of approved 3589 3737 3868 4054 4470 products This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 7

INTRA REGIONAL TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 8

CURRENT STATUS - Challenges IMPLEMENTATION POLICY LEVEL LEVEL • Non tariff barriers in • Available data on trade intra-regional trade in in agricultural products agricultural products for policy input • Information for Traders, • Standards and Customs officers and harmonisation of customs agents on standards regional trade rules This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 9

WATIP’S SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES • Accelerate the process of achieving a customs union in West Africa • Developing a common trade policy • Facilitating the harmonisation of trade-related policies (regulations) and statistical data • Disseminating trade-related information This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 10

WATIP’S FOCUS Progression Implementation from an FTA of the Free Trade to a Customs Area Union Dispute settlement / Efficient and channels to Transparent address processes grievances This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 11

ACTIVITIES Sensitization activities on the ETLS & CET Encourage discussions and dialogue between partners This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 12

ACTIVITIES Support the Commission in the implementation of regulations Specialized training courses to promote businesses in the region This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 13

THE WAY FORWARD • Making the processes more efficient. The need to review and update the texts • More training and sensitization activities to be carried out for key stakeholders • Need for buy-in of stakeholders especially political stakeholders. Fostering trust between all parties • Data capture system for trade in agricultural products This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 14

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amanda Bisong Internationale Zusammenarbeit Advisor Trade and Customs (GIZ) GmbH Amanda.bisong@giz.de GIZ Support Programme to the ECOWAS Commission P.O Box 5374, Area 10, Garki, Abuja/Nigeria www.giz.de This project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Implemented by 15