International News
Nigeria, ECOWAS sign trade information agreement
Nov 17, 2003, 18:45
| | Nigeria and ECOWAS have signed an operating agreement for the Trade Information Opportunities Management System (SIGOA-TOPS), trade information software.
The system would utilise a ‘network of relevant information interchange among various trade promotion structures within the ECOWAS sub-region’.
These include government, trade promotion organisations and private sector institutions.
The agreement was signed by the Deputy Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, Dr. Remi Aribisala; the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Commerce, Hajia Amuna lawan Ali and a director of Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Executive Adulugba.
Commerce minister, Alhaji Adamu Waziri lauded the agreement as a ``very important step toward the realisation of ECOWAS objectives of promoting intra-community trade and economic partnership'' and thanked ECOWAS for choosing Nigeria as one of the four countries for the initial launching of the system.
The three other countries chosen for the scheme include Ghana, Togo and Benin.
The other three countries are Benin, Ghana and Togo.
Alhaji Adamu observed that Nigeria was the highest contributor to the ECOWAS Fund as well as the most effective in the application of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme.
He expressed federal government's support for the successful administration of SIGOA-TOPS and urged the NEPC, designated as the ``national correspondent'', to live up to the task of collecting and collating data for the system.
SIGOA-TOPS is a combination of the French and English acronyms of the software designed to serve the trade information system for the regional body.
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