
Regional Economic Integration 123
low level. In general, the countries involved are so poor and economic activity is so low that there is an
insignificant base for cooperation resulting in little progress.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was formed in 1975 but remained
inactive for the first one and a half decades. It was only in 1992 that fresh initiatives were taken to estab-
lish a customs union and then a common market. The ECOWAS includes the countries of Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guines–Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania,
Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. ...