Since 2006, the USAID Trade Hub has implemented a methodology to collect data on road governance practices along primary trade corridors in West Africa. The West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) oversees the road governance initiative, which today involves eight countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

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The National Committees of the Borderless Alliance, the West African private sector-led group advocating for reduced costs and delays in cross-border transport, have begun mobilizing their members to address issues related to trade and transport facilitation at the national level.

The Government of Niger has eliminated seven checkpoints, winning the gratitude of truck drivers and the praise of the Borderless Alliance.

Dr. Daniel Bromley is the Anderson-Bascom Distinguished Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at Humbold University in Berlin. He is the author, most recently, of "Vulnerable People, Vulnerable States: Redefining the Development Challenge." The views expressed here are his own.

Global Shea Alliance participates at in-cosmetics, trains women in Ghana

The Global Shea Alliance, co-founded by the USAID Trade Hub in 2011, participated at the In-Cosmetics international trade show and the Union for Ethical Bio Trade conference in Paris, distributing more than 100 annual reports and membership directories to shea butter distributers, brands, and development agencies from around the world.

Border Information Center opens at the Port of Dakar

105 stakeholders in Senegal participated in the launch of West Africa’s fourth Border Information Center in Dakar. The new center is hosted by the Conseil Sénégalais des Chargeurs (COSEC).

At the second annual conference of the Borderless Alliance in Accra in February, Ghana’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Hon.

Hundreds of transport and trade stakeholders in Burkina Faso participated in meetings in five cities during a caravan organized by the Improved Road Transport Governance (IRTG) initiative, a joint effort to monitor road governance practices implemented by UEMOA and the USAID West Africa Trade Hub.

21st report on checkpoints, bribes and delays on primary corridors in West Africa

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AGOA opened the U.S. to  duty-free sale of more than 6,000 items (tariff lines) from African nations provided those countries conduct free and fair elections. Products from West Africa that have utilized the program include textiles, apparel, agricultural products such as cashews and shea butter as well as oil and gas.