New SPS/TBT forum in Accra produces a 2025–2027 roadmap to streamline standards, cut bottlenecks, and support AfCFTA implementation along the Abidjan–Lagos trade corridor, West Africa’s busiest route.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission and TradeMark Africa have wrapped up the Abidjan–Lagos Corridor Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS)/Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Forum in Accra, with a clear focus: tackle quality-related obstacles that undermine trade competitiveness on West Africa’s busiest commercial route. Supported by the United Kingdom Government through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the forum gathered government officials, private sector representatives, and regional institutions from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria.
Abidjan–Lagos: A High-Value but High-Friction Corridor
According to ECOWAS, the Abidjan–Lagos Corridor handles over 70 percent of the bloc’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and more than 50 million tons of freight each year. Despite its central role, the corridor has been notorious for delays and high trade transaction costs driven by fragmented standards and regulations. The Accra forum directly targeted these bottlenecks, positioning the corridor as a priority testing ground for more predictable and efficient cross-border trade.
SPS/TBT Roadmap 2025–2027
Participants in the forum developed a Corridor SPS/TBT Action Roadmap covering 2025 to 2027. The roadmap is designed to harmonize standards, strengthen quality systems, and improve coordination at border points. Discussions also advanced regional implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), particularly its annexes on reducing technical barriers to trade while protecting human, animal, and plant health. Stakeholders agreed on practical steps to enhance cooperation, transparency, and harmonization of standards to support safer, faster, and more predictable trade flows across the region.
ECOWAS Vision 2050 and TradeMark Africa’s Track Record
Koissi Midaye, Senior Programme Officer for Quality and Standards at the ECOWAS Commission, underlined the strategic importance of the Abidjan–Lagos Corridor in driving West Africa’s trade ambitions and framed the partnership as a step toward ECOWAS Vision 2050, which seeks a seamless and prosperous region founded on trust and unified standards. Harriet Gayi, Regional Director for West Africa and the AfCFTA at TradeMark Africa (TMA), stressed that standards are a critical pillar of trade facilitation, noting that production capacity alone does not guarantee market access if goods fail to meet requirements in markets such as Abidjan or Kigali.
The initiative builds on TMA’s experience in trade facilitation, including reducing cargo transit times by 16.5 percent and border crossing times by up to 70 percent in East Africa. These lessons are being adapted to West Africa to improve food safety and the competitiveness of regional value chains.
Deepening Regional and Cross-Regional Collaboration
Beyond the corridor itself, the initiative will support the development of a framework to guide ECOWAS–East African Community (EAC) collaboration on trade standards and SPS systems, opening new channels for knowledge transfer between the two regional blocs. The forum formed part of a week-long series of ECOWAS engagements in Accra, convened by Dr. Kalilou Sylla, Commissioner and Head of the ECOWAS Department of Economic Affairs and Agriculture. The meetings were formally opened by Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture Eric Opoku, Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Amelia Arthur, and Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry Elizabeth Ofosu Adjare.
For businesses focused on intra-African trade, the Accra forum signals a structured attempt to align standards, unlock corridor efficiencies, and anchor AfCFTA implementation in concrete SPS and TBT reforms along one of West Africa’s most consequential trade routes.
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