The Secretary General of the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas wants Ghana to join hands with ECOWAS to finalize negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreement, EPA. The EU parliament yesterday extended the deadline for conclusion of discussions on the agreement from January 2014 to 2016. Ghana has already indicated plans to break away from the economic growing and sign the full EPA if negotiations delay. But speaking to JOY-BUSINESS from his base in Brussels, Dr Chambers says breaking ranks with ECOWAS will be a dent on regional integration. “I’m very convinced that in the long run, the regional approach would be beneficial to Ghana than undermining the integration.I mean West Africa may not be the huge market it should be in terms purchasing power but there’s a tremendous potential to it. In any case, remember Europe is negotiating as a region and they see the tremendous benefits in maintaining the regional integration” he noted. He adds that negotiating with EU as a block would be in the best interest of Ghana and other West African countries. Ghana in 2009 signed the Interim EPA with the EU to have continuous access to the European market.