The Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Madame Josephine Ouedraogo, opened the Fourth Session of the Committee on Regional Cooperation and Integration on Wednesday 23 March at ECA headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Madame Ouedraogo welcomed all participants to ECA on behalf of the Executive Secretary Mr K.Y. Amoako, and said the large attendance was a testament to Member States’ commitment to regional integration and intra-African trade. However, she said intra-African trade remains low at about 10% and urged the committee to arrive at recommendations to strengthen Member States’ capacity to increase this trade.

Madame Ouedraogo urged the committee to tackle an often forgotten fact in trade, the role of women. She said evidence suggests that women, for example, undertake most textiles trade in West Africa. “However, the methods they have to adopt to shield themselves from abuse often means their activities go unrecorded,” she said. She urged the committee to address the role of women, starting by addressing its own composition to ensure that at least one-third of the participants in future committee meetings are women.

The director of ECA’s trade and regional Integration Division (TRID) Hakim Ben Hammouda thanked the DES for taking time out of her busy schedule to open the meeting, and said her encouraging remarks will guide the work of the committee. He further reassured her that at session will take-up the issue of gender and that at its next session, at least one-third of the participants will be female.

All 53 Member States of the ECA are represented on the Committee of Regional Cooperation and Integration. In addition, the session is being attended by several United Nations agencies another development partners; Africa’s Regional Economic Communities; and representatives from the private sector and civil society organizations.

The Committee will deliberate on the work programme of ECA’s Trade and Regional Integration Division; address policies and modalities for implementing regional integration at the national level; review progress and prospects for more inter-African trade; and assess the status of international trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization and negotiations for an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union. The committee will end its session Friday with recommendations for African policy-makers.