THE Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has identified European Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Common External Tariff (CET) as international and regional interests of the country's manufacturing sector.The full implementation of CET is expected to commence in 2012.Speaking recently at the yearly general meeting of Ikeja branch of MAN, the Chairman, Isaac Agoye, disclosed that partial implementation of these trade agreements and regional uniform tariff system was currently throwing up fresh challenges that could further strangulate the manufacturing sector.Agoye stressed the need for the government to come to terms with the situation and decisively address the challenge in the interest of the Nigerian economy.The CET is one of the instruments of harmonising ECOWAS member states and strengthening its common market.The aims of the community focuses on promoting 'co-operation and integration, leading to the establishment of an economic union in West Africa.'A common external tariff has a common nomenclature so that customs procedures are transparent, readily followed and delays at borders decreased, to achieve the mission of the sub-regional group.In his presentation titled: 'ECOWAS Common External Tariff: Potential Implication for the Manufacturing Sector', Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Sky Bank Plc, Kehinde Durosimi-Etti, said that the treaty would lead to high cost of trading, thereby discouraging entrepreneurship.He added: 'The implication of this to Nigeria is that inadequate infrastructure is a big challenge-poor haulage system, power supply and weak regulatory framework. It would significantly increase cost of doing business, making it difficult to comply with the ECOWAS CET. It would lead to trade barriers, constrains trade flow and undermine competitiveness and absence of reliable payment system among member states.'He pointed out that it would also lead to discriminatory policies among member states against other nationals, stressing that regional integration would become political in nature and may cause friction among member states.Durosimi-Etti stated that although the results of the integration framework of ECOWAS had overall been significantly below expectation, there were indications of a better performance in future.He explained: 'Sentiments in favour of a better future performance are strengthened by the outlook of the global economy. As the foreign investments search for untapped markets in the bid to improve returns, it would serve ECOWAS countries well to leverage the benefits of increasing investments in the region.
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