Economic Partnership Agreement and African Continental Free Trade Area: What is at stake for Togo?

Following nearly 11 years of negotiations, started in 2003 between West African countries and the European Union (EU), the 15 countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) plus Mauritania endorsed, in July 2014, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)for signature. In December 2014, all EU countries and 13 West African countries signed the Agreement. Pending the ratification and entry into force of the regional Agreement, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire separately signed interim EPAs with the EU in 2016, which are being provisionally applied.