The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, via its Customs Union and Taxation Directorate, is hosting a working session focused on the electronic Certificate of Origin (e-CO) for the pilot member states of Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo.
This important four-day meeting commenced on Monday, November 24, 2025, at the ECOWAS Investment and Development Bank (EBID) in Lomé, Togo.
These six member states have been selected as pilot countries for the e-CO implementation initiative.
Launched in November 2024, ECOWAS’s electronic certificate of origin aims to digitize and automate the issuance of certificates, thereby streamlining the exchange of electronic documents among member states. A centralized system for managing e-CO has been developed to facilitate this process.
The primary goal of the ongoing meeting is to assess the level of automation in the certificate of origin acquisition process within each participating country.
This assessment will help identify ways to connect national systems to ECOWAS’s central e-CO system, facilitating smoother exchanges and further enhancing regional trade efficiency.
About the Author
