West Africa: Ecowas Partners FG On Regional Automotive Policy

 The National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) has said that it is partnering with the ECOWAS Commission for the formulation of a regional automotive policy in West Africa.

 
This is contained in a statement issued by the Principal Executive Officer (Information) of NADDC, Mr. Bello Rasheed on Friday in Abuja.
 
The statement said a delegation from the ECOWAS Commission, led by its Commissioner for Industry and Private Sector Promotion, Dr. Kalilou Traore, held a meeting with the Director General of NADDC, Mr. Aminu Jalal, at the council's headquarters in Abuja.
 
It noted that Traore said that the regional body acknowledged the successes recorded so far by Nigeria in its auto industry development, especially with the establishment of numerous vehicle assembly plants, saying that such a laudable industrial policy should be adopted at the regional level so that its benefits could extend to other West African countries.
 
The delegation leader also noted that the ECOWAS Commission had adopted Nigeria's automotive agenda at a meeting in Ghana early this year, which he said has brought priority investment sector to four, which are food, pharmaceuticals and building construction materials.
 
According to the statement, Traore said that as a follow-up, the commission was planning to host a regional workshop of experts to holistically discuss matters relating to auto industry development with a view to having a common regulated market for increased flow of investments and trade transactions among West African countries.
 
He listed issues for discussion at the proposed regional workshop to include common regulations and standards, rule of origin, components parts manufacturing, maintenance garages and vehicle credit financing.
 
Traore added that automobile manufacturers, dealers and finance institutions were some of the relevant stakeholders that would participate in the workshop.
 
The ECOWAS commissioner was of the opinion that governments in West Africa should consider the use of Made in Nigeria automobiles as official vehicles and also for mass transit services, adding that other countries in the region should also benefit from investments in components parts development and establishment of auto maintenance service garages.
 
Responding, the NADDC director general assured the ECOWAS Commission delegation of the council's support for the success of the proposed workshop and readiness to share Nigeria's experience and expertise with sister countries.
 
Jalal said that already, Nigeria had approved vehicle safety standards, procedures, tariff structures, investment incentives, and other instruments of the Nigerian Automotive Industrial Development Plan (NAIDP).
 
According to him, the NAIDP could be modified and adopted for regional application.
 
He added that Nigerian assembled vehicles were currently being sold in some West African countries while there was also a huge inflow of imported vehicles en route Benin Republic and Niger Republic to Nigeria.
 
Jalal said that it was a good idea to have a common regulation and procedure for the entire West Africa Region.
 
Source: http://allafrica.com/

Posted on : 27 Jul,2024 | News Source : ABNews

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