By: Abdoulie John
The ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority (ERCA) on Tuesday opened a three-day conference to tighten regional competition rules and deepen market integration across West Africa.
The meeting, held at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Center in Bijilo, is themed “Competition Policy and Market Integration in ECOWAS: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities.” It has drawn policymakers, academics, private-sector executives and competition experts from across the 15-member bloc.
Vice-President Muhammed B.S. Jallow, standing in for President Adama Barrow, told delegates that regional integration and competitive markets remain the foundation of Africa’s economic future. He said The Gambia was proud to host what he called “a transformative chapter in regional economic governance.”
Jallow announced that the government had allocated a plot of land to ERCA so the authority can build its permanent headquarters on the “Smiling Coast of West Africa.” The offer, he said, underscores Banjul’s commitment to ECOWAS strategic priorities.
ECOWAS Commission Chairperson General Birame Diop said the conference showed member states’ shared determination to build an open, integrated and competitive regional market, even as the region faces serious political and security challenges.
“At the same time, our economies are undergoing profound transformations,” Diop said. Those changes, he added, are being driven by shifts in value chains and the rapid rise of digital platforms.
Regional integration, Diop stressed, cannot be limited to removing tariff and non-tariff barriers. “It is also about creating the conditions for markets to function effectively and fairly,” he said.
Organizers say the three-day talks will examine how national competition laws can be aligned, how digital markets should be regulated, and how smaller economies can compete on more equal terms inside the ECOWAS single market.
The conference is expected to produce recommendations that will feed into ERCA’s work program and guide member states as they update domestic competition statutes. Officials hope the gathering will mark a practical step toward a more coherent West African marketplace rather than another round of declarations.
