The document discusses the work of the Borderless Alliance (BA) in advocating for and promoting regional economic integration in West Africa. BA works to eliminate barriers to trade and transport by collaborating on simplified and harmonized border procedures. It outlines BA's scope of regional advocacy, challenges in West Africa like high logistics costs, and opportunities for increased regional trade and investment. The summary provides an overview of BA's activities, including conferences, border information centers, and workshops, as well as examples of its successful advocacy efforts that have led to reductions in checkpoints, fees, and delays at some borders.

1. Advocacy & Promoting Regional Economic Integration
Ziad HAMOUI
President
BORDERLESS ALLIANCE
COMPANY
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2. Outline
• Scope of BA regional advocacy
• General Situation in West Africa
• Impact of challenges on logistics scene
• Regional Opportunities
• Evidence base
• Brief intro on BA and activities
• Advocacy success stories
• Way forward for BA in West Africa
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3. Scope of BA Regional Advocacy
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
ECONOMIC POLITICAL SOCIAL
INVESTMENT
CAPACITY
BUILDING
TRADE
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POLICY-MAKING
COMMON
IDENTITY AND
IDEAS
BORDERLESS ALLIANCE AS A CROSS-CUTTING
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PLATFORM
FOR DIALOGUE AND ADVOCACY

4. General Situation in West Africa
Various studies show that Transport and logistics costs
in our region are amongst the highest in the world
Transport prices for most African landlocked countries
range from 15 – 20% of imports costs, which is three to
four times higher than in most developed countries
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5. Key Regional Challenges
• Long delays at ports and border crossings
• Harassment along corridors, mainly from uniformed
services
• Corruption
• Persistence of tariff and non-tariff barriers on
agricultural products
• Inefficient customs operations
• Export Bans
• Non-compliance with existing protocols (ETLS)
• Unduly high taxes and levies even on certified non-dutiable
goods
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6. Impact on Regional Integration
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7. • Trade Investment:
- West African Governments are
open for Business!
- Average 5% increase in West
Africa for past decade
- Estimated growth of 5% for next
decade (World Bank)
• Infrastructure Investment:
- Est. $93b/yr until 2020 finance
req. (according to AfDB)
- Around 12% Average Throughput
growth in African Ports
- Port Utilization rate is already high
- Not enough matching investments
Missed Opportunities??
- Adoption of ECOWAS CET;
Customs Union a reality soon
- Relative stability of late
(manageable risk levels)
- Governments actively seeking
investment partners
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- Capacity shortage + Congestion
expected
- Much oil production but not
enough energy

8. Logistics performance in WA
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9. Evidence-Based Advocacy:
the OPA road governance map
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10. The Borderless Alliance COMPANY
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Promoting competitive trade in West Africa; eliminating
barriers to trade and transport
Collaborating on Simplified and harmonized procedures, for
the free movement of people and goods, unhindered by
delays along the corridors
Encouraging investment, for the creation of more jobs and
more income for people and governments
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Competitive trade
Capital Flow
Standardized
Procedures

11. COMPANY
LOGO HERE
How it Started
•BORDERLESS was launched as a brand for the Trade Hub’s
Transport and Road Governance work in March 2010
•This evolved into advocacy group; in May 2011, the Borderless
Alliance was born. The alliance was officially launched in May 2012
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12. Scope of Activities
• Annual Borderless conferences (public-private
dialogue) in Abidjan (2012), Accra (2013) Lagos
(2014)
• Establishment of Border Information Centers to
facilitate the easy movement of goods across borders
and provide assistance to traders abd operators
• Information dissemination workshops, roadshows and
caravans
IN 2013, BORDERLESS ALLIANCE ORGANIZED 59 ACTIVITIES
IN 10 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, INVOLVING RECs, DONORS,
UNIFORMED AUTHORITIES, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND
PRIVATE ENTERPRISES
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13. Borderless Initiatives:
1. Workshops, Roadshows and Caravans
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14. Borderless Initiatives (Cont’d):
2. Printed Documentation
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15. COMPANY
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TIMELINE
1. Ghana/Togo
(August‘11)
2. B. Faso/Ghana
(September’12)
3. Benin/Nigeria
Borderless Initiatives (Cont’d):
3. Border Information Centers
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(December‘12)
4. Dakar Port
(March‘13)
5. Ghana/Cote
d’Ivoire
(May‘13)

16. Detailed Activity List
THEME VENUE PARTICIPANTS
Stakeholders’ Training on border
crossing trade
Paga (Ghana)
Seme (Nigeria)
Elubo (Ghana)
60 participants : Customs,
Freight Forwarders,
Transporters’ Unions, GCNET,
BIVAC
45 participants : freight
forwarders, transporters and
shipping agents
43 mainly clearing agents
Customs procedures for goods in
Transit
Paga (Ghana)
Dakola (Burkina Faso)
49 freight forwarders
53 freight forwarders
Schemes on importation and
exportation
Kodjoviakope (Togo)
Noe (Côte d’Ivoire)
32 freight forwarders
27 participants : freight
forwarders, Customs,
transporters
Customs duties and operation in
the ASYCUDA++
Krake (Benin) 17 freight forwarders
Customs regimes and their
codification in ASYCUDA++
Porto Novo (Benin)
Kodjoviakopé (Togo)
Ouagarinter (Burkina Faso)
58 Customs Officers
30 Clearing agents
50 participants : clearing agents,
Customs, COTECNA and CBC
Training Session on SYADAM Noe (Côte d’Ivoire) 13 freight forwarders
TOTAL 12 Sessions 477
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17. Success stories COMPANY
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•JAN 13: BA contributes to shaping the “Accra Agenda” on free
movement of agriculture goods in West Africa, finalized April 2013
•FEB 2013: During “Borderless 2013” conference, Min. of Trade in Ghana
issues call to limit delay at Ghana Borders, starting February 22nd, 2013
•FEB 2013: Ministerial directive in Niger to facilitate movement of transit
goods + transport seal, starting 27 February, 2013
•MAY 2013: 1st BIC forum highlights varying improvements on BICs,
toolkit is produced
•DEC 2013: Presidential Decree in Benin to limit checkpoints
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18. Advocacy can yield results COMPANY
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Between 2006 and 2013:
1. Checkpoints reduced by 13-53%
2. Illicit fees down by 46-70%
3. Delays decreased by 29-61%
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(Except Cote d’Ivoire, which was in
temporary post-election crisis)
(source: USAID/WATH, 2013)

19. Structure of Borderless Alliance COMPANY
LOGO HERE
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
9 NATIONAL
BOARD OF
ADVISORS
EXECUTIVE
-BA members (64+)
-Board of advisors
-Executive committee
-Executive secretariat
CURRENTLY:
USAID, AfDB, ECOWAS
PLANNED:
UEMOA, JICA, GIZ…
9 MEMBERS
COMMITTEES
COMMITTEE
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EXECUTIVE
SECRETARIAT
(7 ELECTED + 2 DE-FACTO)
PRESIDENT + 2 VPs
+6 MEMBERS AT LARGE

20. COMPANY
LOGO HERE
BA advocacy action mechanism
• Evaluate situation by looking at evidence base (technical reports,
observations in the field)
• Identify problem and suggest a line of action
• Initiate action (high-level advocacy meeting, technical workshop,
capacity-building activity, public-private dialogue…)
• Follow up on impact of initiated action
Case Study 1:
Elubo hold-up
(GHANA/COTE d’IVOIRE)
Case Study 2:
High transit Fees,
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(BENIN)
Case Study 3:
Axle weight discrepancy
(GHANA)

21. Local action through Nat’l C’ttees COMPANY
LOGO HERE
• Represent and promote the Borderless Alliance,
Coordinate national activities (currently nine in West Africa)
• Identify country specific problems and challenges and find
solutions through advocacy
• Monitor and evaluate the decisions taken by the government and
affecting the free movement of goods and people and assess
their impact on the ground
• Facilitate cooperation and sharing of information among policy
makers, the private sector, members of the Borderless Alliance,
transport actors and trade
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22. Current Challenges COMPANY
LOGO HERE
1. Building institutional capacity up to international standards
(Research, Operations, Communication)
2. Operationalizing existing BICs + Inaugurating new ones
3. Mobilizing private sector participation
4. Growing the Board of advisors and seeking expanded fund
sources
5. Enhancing value proposal for partners and members
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23. Knowledge-Sharing Opportunity COMPANY
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• Potential for sharing best
Practices across regions (East,
Central, South and West)
• Replicating West African success
stories elsewhere (border
monitoring, corridor
management)
• Importing best practices
(FESARTA handbook, e-complaint
portal)
WEST
AFRICA
EAST
AFRICA
STREAMLINING VARIOUS RELATED
EFFORTS IN ORDER TO
ADVANCE REGIONAL
INTEGRATION AGENDAS AND
HELP ASCEND TO CONTINENTAL
FREE TRADE AREA
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SOUTH
AFRICA

24. Advocacy lessons learnt
- Advocacy is a long-term investment; it can give results, but requires
regular follow-up
- Plenty of regulations, but not enough implementation
- Lots of capacity-building required, in order to facilitate regional
integration
- To maximize the impact of advocacy, there is a need to
simultaneously address hard infrastructures, soft infrastructures and
investment, in order to ensure sustainable growth in Africa
- There is benefit in replicating the Borderless Alliance’s platform in
other regions, taking into consideration the individuality of each other
region
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25. THANK YOU
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