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The effort to improve the free movement of goods and people across Ghana and Togo took a significant step forward yesterday, with the inauguration of a common border post for Ghana and Togo at Noepe on the Togo half of the border. The project, which cost 10.3 million euros, formed part of the Economic Community of West Africa States ( ECOWAS) Transport Facilitation Programme, which is being supported by the European Union (EU). Sited on 17.7 hectares, the project is sub-divided into zones for passenger transportation, freight handling, transit and cattle inspection. The Noepe project is meant to reduce trade and logistics costs, increase intra-regional trade, enhance public receipts, and improve the free movement of goods and people across the two countries. The project will also promote cooperation and improve cross border security, while providing an avenue for information sharing and resource exchange by the control agencies at the border post. President John Dramani Mahama and his Togolese counterpart, Mr Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, jointly inaugurated the project at a colourful ceremony, which was attended by a large number of people from both countries. ECOWAS protocols The ECOWAS protocols provide for a road transport and transit facilitation programme to bolster competitiveness and efficiency of the main transportation corridors of West Africa with the view to improving intra-regional trade and free movement of people. In his inaugural speech, the ECOWAS Chairman, President Mahama, said the Commission would continue to work until all border posts were sanitised. The ultimate, he said, was to achieve a borderless West Africa. President Mahama stated that similar common border projects would be established at Noe, near Elubo on the Ghana-C�te d'Ivoire border and Paga on the Ghana-Burkina Faso border. The President underscored the need for African countries to trade among themselves in order to take advantage of the inherent benefits. Currently, trade among African countries stands as low as between 12 and 15 per cent. President Mahama said the more than 350 million population of West Africa, for instance, provided a huge market that could be exploited by member countries. He also stressed the need for the removal of illegal barriers within ECOWAS member countries, otherwise the common border posts would not achieve their intended benefits. ECOWAS Commission President The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Kadre Desire Ouegraogo, commended presidents Mahama and Gnassignbe for their tremendous commitment to regional integration and towards the realisation of the project.