The first ECOWAS business forum, which will bring together private sector operators and other stakeholders of the West African business community, is scheduled to open in Accra, Ghana, Monday, an ECOWAS statement said.
The statement, made available to PANA here Saturday, said the three-day meeting would evolve strategies for improving regional business operations and ensuring greater involvement of the sector in the implementation of programmes for regional integration.
''The...forum will not only contribute to the ongoing efforts to mobilize the private sector towards greater regional development and competitiveness in the global business environment, it will also agree on a strategy to revive the moribund intra-regional business associations or create new and practical ones,'' it said.
Regional business associations such as the Federation of West Africa Chamber of Commerce (FEWACC), the Federation of West Africa Manufacturers (FEWAMA) and the West African Enterprises Network (WAEN), which were once the toast of the continent, later became moribund.
The Accra meeting will adopt concrete and measurable strategies for engaging the private sector in integration, particularly in the areas of developing a common market, improving the investment climate and the issues of common currency and cross border payments.
It will also enable the operators to be apprised of the status of the regional integration project and the negotiation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that seeks to create a free trade area between West Africa and Europe.
Participants will be drawn mostly from key private sector operators, relevant government agencies and representatives of national and regional chambers of commerce and will also adopt modalities for business networking in West Africa.
The forum is a joint project of ECOWAS, the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), USAID, ECOBANK,UBA and PZ.
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