The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Private Sector in Guinea held an awareness campaign on the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) on October 17, 2024, in Conakry, Guinea. The initiative aimed to foster understanding and adoption of the scheme among Guinean private sector players.
The ETLS is a critical component for regional economic integration within ECOWAS. It seeks to promote intra-community trade by removing tariff and non-tariff barriers between member states, thereby facilitating the free movement of goods and services across the region.
Ms. Aïssata Yaméogo Koffi, Program Officer responsible for Rules of Origin and Community Preferential Treatment, delivered a detailed presentation highlighting the objectives and benefits of the ETLS. This included insights into how it can enhance participants' understanding of its advantages.
The scheme's primary goal is to eliminate customs duties through a gradual reduction in import taxes on goods from ECOWAS member states. By reducing barriers, it aims to support intra-regional trade growth and provide national economic operators with better access to regional markets.
For Guinea's private sector, as well as those in other ECOWAS member states, the ETLS offers access to broader markets, increased export opportunities, and lower customs-related costs. However, challenges such as improving product quality and modernizing industrial processes remain.
Maria Diané, Secretary General of the Guinean Employers’ Association, stressed the importance of these opportunities for Guinean businesses. She encouraged economic operators to take advantage of what they learned during the session to better prepare for regional market opportunities.
Ibrahima Diallo, Guinea’s Director General of African Integration, described the session as vital for helping Guinean operators understand the SLE more deeply. He urged participants to engage actively and familiarize themselves with the scheme's provisions.
Salifou Tiemtoré, Director of Customs and Taxation Union at ECOWAS Commission, highlighted strong trade relations between Guinea and neighboring countries like Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Mali. He emphasized that ETLS enables economic operators in ECOWAS countries to expand beyond national borders into a regional market with over 400 million consumers.
Colonel Ibrahima Bah from Guinea’s Directorate General of Customs reiterated ECOWAS's commitment to assisting economic operators in leveraging regional market opportunities. He expressed optimism that such sessions would help Guinean products gain duty-free access to regional markets and boost Guinea’s share within ECOWAS.
Key topics discussed included conditions for obtaining approval under ETLS and various trade facilitation mechanisms provided by ECOWAS to aid Guinean operators in achieving duty-free regional market access.
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