An extraordinary meeting of the Economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS), being attended by Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur in Dakar, Senegal has gone into a closed-door session to consider  a memorandum on the consolidation of the regional market.

The summit is also considering the finalisation of the Common External Tariff (CET); the Community Integration Levy as well as the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between West Africa and the European Union.

Opening the summit, Ivorian President, Allasane Ouatarra, the current chair of ECOWAS, urged the leaders to use the meeting to prepare the organization for the best economic and trade negotiations with other regional groupings, especially the European Union for shared prosperity.

That he said, called for the sub-region taking advantage of its assets to quickly act to achieve deadlines and to be able to participate effectively in world trade and commerce.

President Ouatarra called for a common front among ECOWAS nations for an effective common market, and stressed the need for infant industries to be encouraged in the challenging global market.

He commended Mali for the successful conduct of elections, promising that ECOWAS would give similar support for the return to democracy in Guinea Bissau.

Host President, Macky Sall, urged the ECOWAS Leaders to work hard to achieve the vision of using the ECOWAS frame work to achieve better lives for their peoples.