This study is part of the project: "Facilitation of transit transport and trade in West Africa for better value chain participation", implemented by UNCTAD and involving four countries in the sub-region: Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger and Togo.
The objective of this project is to develop a sub-regional strategy for the updating and implementation of regional transport conventions, including agreements related to specific issues on transit of goods. This initiative was conceived in response to the links between customs transit, transport and trade facilitation and to address the high cost of transporting goods in the sub-region.
The analysis of road transport legislation in Benin and Niger was carried out as part of the PFEAO project. The analysis of the legal framework for transport in Burkina Faso is part of the implementation of UNCTAD's sub-regional project on transit, transport and trade facilitation in West Africa for better participation in value chains. Togo, for its part, has been supported in this context by the World Bank's "Trade Facilitation and Competitiveness of Logistics Services Project" (PFCCSL), which has helped to improve the legal and regulatory framework governing the transport and logistics sector.
The analysis of national road transport legislation in the four countries was the starting point for the intervention framework, which led to the drafting of a document1 setting out a regulatory convergence framework for road transport. Validation of this convergence framework by the four beneficiary countries led to the signing of the "Quadrilateral Declaration for the Convergence of the Legal Framework for Road Transport, Intermediation, Transit and Trade between Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger and Togo" on 25 May 2023 in Niamey, Niger, by the Ministers of Trade and the Ministers of Transport of the four countries.
To arrive at this convergence framework, the UNCTAD project drew on the situation of the sector in the four countries, as well as international and regional instruments and examples of best practice at regional level. It recommends convergence criteria and a strategy for their implementation. It aims to establish real regulatory convergence, enabling trade and transport players in the four countries to operate in a harmonised way, thereby promoting the emergence of a fair framework for competition.
