The treaty establishing the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was
- concluded in Lome (Togo) in December, 1976 after hard and extensive negotiations
- designed as the main pillar on which an eventual African common market would be built
- the brain-child of Togo and Ghana
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signed in Lagos in May 1975 to promote trade and other economic co-operation in the region as a whole
- to immediately eliminate tariffs and other barriers to trade among members