Country Coverage
ECOWAS

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was established under the Treaty of Lagos in 1975 and has its headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. Today the community has 15 member states and benefits from a large labour pool, vast deposits of natural resources and a sizeable amount of arable land. The community’s main objective is the establishment of a single currency and Customs union, with fully integrated economies and open borders. This is in part a result of the revision of the Treaty of Lagos in 1993, when the ECOWAS mandate shifted from a focus on furthering bilateral cooperation between states to bringing about closer social and economic integration. While the bloc has embarked on a number of political initiatives in recent years, the primary goals of ECOWAS remain largely economic in nature.