“There is potential in EU-ECOWAS
cooperation in the increasing exchange of trade. Not only trade of goods that
are processed in West Africa but also trade of services” (ECOWAS,
Trade Dept. staff, Abuja).
In light of these considerations, the potential of
inter-regional cooperation has to be considered from a new angle. The
qualitative data suggests that the underlying socio-economic challenges could
potentially be addressed through cooperation in the economic domain. In this
domain, the EU and the ECOWAS have been holding comprehensive mandates, which
endow them with the right to negotiate trade agreements with each other, on
behalf of their member states. With this, in their attempts to mitigate the
prevailing challenges, the regional actors move from being a ‘supplementary’
instance for policy initiative, as in the case of the political migration
domain, to the primary authority of policy initiative.
A
tentative analysis of the ongoing trade negotiations between the EU and the ECOWAS
(Economic Partnership Agreements –EPAs) reveals that trade tools have the
potential to serve as a framework to facilitate the interests that were
articulated by regional and national actors. The trade in service dimension has
a framework at its disposal, which, despite the national sovereignties, could
facilitate targeted, sector oriented labor migration in compliance with the
needs of European and West African economies. Further, the dimension of trade
in goods harbors the potential to set up a framework for trade and investment
that fosters the socio-economic situation of the ECOWAS. It could potentially
be used to stimulate the trade between the regions and especially investment into
the West African region beyond the currently prevailing development dimension. >>> read Part VI. of I./II./III./IV./V./VI. <<<