West Africa lags in border harmonisation

Despite a significant reduction in barriers to trade along Africa’s corridors in the past six years, checkpoints and the bribes they elicit from transporters continue to raise concern. Barney Curtis, executive director of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta), told FTW some six information centres had been set up across West Africa by the Borderless Alliance to monitor trade and progress in the region. This was revealed at the Borderless Conference held in Accra, Ghana recently that was aimed at informing role-players about the progress in intra-regional trade in West Africa. “The overall impression from the conference was that West Africa was somewhat behind East and Southern Africa with the regulation and management of its road transport system,” said Curtis. “Part of this was due to the political division amongst member states. There were several North-South but few East-West corridors in the region and there was also little cross-border harmonisation resulting in cross-border transport being slow and costly.” Curtis said while it was clear that trade barriers were being addressed in West Africa, much work was still be done. “Following the conference Fesarta will also be working closely with Borderless who have produced a truck driver’s guide for Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire. Fesarta, which has produced a similar document – the East and Southern African Road Transport Corridor Handbook – will share experiences on these guides,” he said. This was the second conference of its kind. Borderless Alliance is a private sectordriven organisation that includes several regional organisations such as USAid, the EU and the West Africa Trade Hub. INSERT There are several North-South but few East-West corridors in the region.’