EU plans economic partnership with ECOWAS

LAGOS, July 18 (Xinhua/GNA) -- The European Union (EU) is scheduled in October to open an economic partnership negotiation with ECOWAS in Nigeria to reinforce economic relations, local newspaper This Day reported on Friday. Officials of the EU's Directorate General Trade were quoted as saying that the main objective of the meeting would be to reinforce the regional market in west Africa in order to build a strong market in Africa. The meeting, which has been tentatively fixed for the first or second week of October at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) secretariat in Abuja, is part of the EU's plan towards trade reinforcement in Africa. The meeting will host trade ministers from the west African region to begin the negotiation on trade reinforcement and serve as a road map for further negotiation.