The Economic Community of West African States Commission, has lamented low trade volume among member states.

This was disclosed by the President of ECOWAS, Omar Touray while responding to questions from reporters at a conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

Touray noted that compared to developed countries whose intra-community trade is 60 per cent, the region has a long way to go.

“At the moment, our intra-community trade stands at 12 per cent. On the whole in Africa, our intra-continental trade is under 20 per cent which is extremely low.

“If you look at developed countries, countries that are sufficiently integrated or regions that are sufficiently reintegrated, their intra-community trade alone is around 60 to 70 per cent. So we have a long way to go,” he said.

The President therefore advised that the region should produce and export more of its goods to boost the intra-community trade volume.

Touray noted, “This is why we must open our market to our produce and our own manufactured items.