Breaking barriers: Game-changing border reforms endorsed in West Africa
Bottlenecks to trade are about more than business. In West Africa, lengthy border crossings and complex procedures can leave food to spoil in trucks. Now regional directors from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have endorsed sweeping reforms at two key border crossings, clearing the way to grow trade and reduce hunger.
The event gathered key Directors and senior representatives from the ECOWAS Commission, including Trade, Customs, Agriculture and Rural Development, Transport and Infrastructure, and Free Movement of People, endorsing the findings on 6 and 7 March 2025 in Accra, Ghana. They prioritized nine recommendations for regional reforms and more than 140 national actions to improve trade in food and farm goods.
The changes affect two of the busiest border crossings in the region: the Seme-Krake crossing between Benin and Nigeria, and the Paga-Dakola crossing between Burkina Faso and Ghana.
This marks a major milestone for efforts by the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the leading German development agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). This collaboration took shape under the ECOWAS Agricultural Trade (EAT) Programme, which is now moving from a strategy phase to action.
Some key areas of reform include:
Harmonized clearance processes to reduce waiting times and make trade more predictable
Improved inspection areas and warehousing for smoother goods movement
Modernized facilities to better accommodate trade flows
Electronic customs and transport management systems with secured cross-border data exchanges
Strengthened mechanism for complaints about gender-based violence and harassment
Elimination of arbitrary fees and informal payments
Improved collaboration among customs, immigration, and health officials
By implementing these measures, West Africa can unlock faster, fairer, and more predictable cross-border trade, supporting economic growth and regional integration.
The recommendations have been officially endorsed by key ECOWAS directorates, ensuring a coordinated and strategic implementation.
From bottlenecks to opportunity: Why these concrete actions are essential
As these recommendations are put into practice, buying and selling of food across borders will become cheaper and more predictable, preventing food from spoiling while in transit and cutting losses for small businesses and farmers.
Key next steps include:
Trade Information and Border Assistance Desks to provide real-time support to traders and improve access to regulatory information.
Complaint mechanism to report gender-based violence at borders, particularly for women traders.
Green customs initiatives through multilateral environmental agreements, promoting eco-friendly trade practices.
The next phase will focus on rigorous monitoring and impact, ensuring real benefits for farmers, traders, and consumers across the region.
About the project
Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the GIZ ECOWAS Agricultural Trade (EAT) Programme is a special initiative, One World – No Hunger, dedicated to strengthening regional integration through intra-regional agricultural trade in the ECOWAS region. GIZ, the leading German development agency, is the main implementing agency, with ITC as partner, collaborating with the ECOWAS Commission with the directorates responsible for agriculture and rural development, trade, customs, free movement of people, and the Gender Development Center. The programme's central objective is to enhance the capacity and services of regional and national organizations, with a particular emphasis on improving agri-food policies, sustainability, gender sensitivity, trade facilitation inclusivity, and active engagement with small businesses and professional associations in the sector.
