On 9 August, the Gambia became the 14th West African country to have signed the region-to-region economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the EU.
This agreement aims to promote trade between the EU and the African states and to contribute to sustainable development and poverty reduction. Once signed by all 16 partners (the 15 members of ECOWAS and Mauritania) – that is to say by Nigeria and Mauritania – the agreement will be submitted for ratification.
While awaiting adoption of the full regional EPA with West Africa, stepping stone economic partnership agreements with Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana have already been applied temporarily since 3 September and 15 December 2016 respectively.
On 26 October 2018 a joint EU-ACP (African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States) ministerial committee on trade will take place in Brussels to discuss the state of play of the seven EPAs between the EU and countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)