The ECOWAS Commission and TradeMark Africa, with support from the UK Government through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), have convened the Abidjan–Lagos Corridor Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS)/Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Forum in Accra, to address quality challenges affecting trade competitiveness along West Africa’s busiest trade route.
The three-day event, from the 19th to the 21st of November 2025, brings together Government Officials, Private Sector Representatives and Regional Institutions from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and the East African Community (EAC).
The intended outcome is a Corridor SPS/TBT Action Roadmap (2025–2027) to improve border coordination, harmonise standards, and strengthen quality and SPS systems across the region. Participants will also draft and agree on actionable recommendations for implementing AfCFTA’s annexes on reducing and eliminating technical barriers to trade by promoting cooperation, transparency, and harmonising standards, and safeguarding human, animal and plant health to ensure food safety and prevention of the spread of pests and other diseases.
This initiative will also see a framework developed to guide ECOWAS–EAC collaboration on trade standards and SPS systems and builds on TMA’s proven success in trade facilitation in support of the AfCFTA, including reducing cargo transit times by sixteen-point-five percent and border crossing times by up to seventy percent in East Africa.
The forum is a major step in creating a seamless, safe, and efficient trade environment across the Abidjan–Lagos Corridor—one that will benefit small businesses, women traders, and youth-led enterprises central to West Africa’s economic future.
It is also part of a series of ECOWAS meetings being hosted in Accra for the week by the Commissioner and Head of the ECOWAS Department of Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Dr. Kalilou Sylla, jointly opened by Minister of Food and Agriculture, Ghana, Eric Opoku; Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ghana, Amelia Arthur; and Minister for Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry, Ghana, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare.
