West African trade in world trade remains low, whether for coastal or landlocked countries. Intra-regional trade must also improve as it represents less than 10% of each country’s trade. According to UNCTAD’s 2019 Economic Development Report, in 2017, intra-African exports accounted for 17 percent of total exports, compared to 68 percent for intra-European exports, 59 percent for intra-Asian exports, and 55 percent for intra- American exports.
The overall objective of the project is the development of a sub-regional strategy for the updating and implementation of regional conventions on transit issues (i.e., ISRT), including specific transit-related issues that fall under the umbrella of transport and trade facilitation (TFA), coordinated at two levels:
1. Coordination at the national level in the three beneficiary countries between the various governmental and private sector actors involved, including the Ministries of Commerce, Transport, and Planning, and the Chamber of Commerce and other private sector actors (e.g., transporters, shippers, freight forwarders, etc.)
2. Sub-regional coordination among the three beneficiary countries of specific priority actions to be undertaken on transit issues, including transport, and the implementation of specific articles of the TFA relating to transit according to the recommendations of the action matrices of their respective Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) within the general framework of the support provided by the World Bank’s Trade Facilitation West Africa Program (TFWA).
By invitation only.