The Ghana Union Traders Association (GUTA) has congratulated President Nana Akufo-Addo on his unanimous election as Chairman of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS).

GUTA, in a congratulatory statement, also expressed confidence that given his wealth of experience, Nana Akufo-Addo “would excel in the performance of his duty”.

GUTA noted that with Nana Akufo-Addo as leader of ECOWAS and also the host of the secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), they are certain he would use his good offices to ensure that the rules of engagement in these protocols are strictly applied in solving all trade-related matters.

Nana Akufo-Addo was elected ECOWAS chair at the 57th Summit of the group in Niamey, Niger in Monday, 7 September 2020.

Nana Akufo-Addo, in his acceptance speech, noted that “when we think of West Africa together with our individual countries, we are not just being pan-Africanists, we are also being true nationalists, because what makes West Africa more prosperous will make each of our individual countries more prosperous.”

He urged his colleague Heads of State to give enthusiastic support to community decisions, and build ECOWAS rapidly.

“Our peoples deserve no less, and the objectives of peace, progress and prosperity will, thus, be within our reach, realising the historic purposes of ECOWAS,” Nana Akufo-Addo added.

ECOWAS is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa.

The stated goal of ECOWAS is to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for its member states by creating a single large trade bloc by building a full economic and trading union.